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CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

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CHRISTIAN PATIENCE

THE

STRENGTH & DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL

a Couree of Xecturea

BISHOP ULLATHORNE.

" In your patience you shall possess your souls."

— Luke xxi. 19.

DlCLICThtOUE S.J

Les Fontaines
60 • CHANTILLY

BURNS AND GATES, Ld.

LONDON :

GRANVILLE MANSIONS,
ORCHARD STREET, W.

NEW YORK:

CATHOLIC PUBLICATION
SOCIETY CO.,
BARCLAY STREET,

1886.

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To His Eminence^

The Most Illustrious and Most Reverend
CARDINAL NEWMAN.

My Dear Lard Cardinal^

I do not forget that your first public appear-
ance in the Catftolic Church was at my consecration to the
Episcopate^ and that since that time forty years of our
lives have passed^ during which you have honoured me
with a friendship and a confidence that have much en-
riched my life. Deeply sensible of the incalculable services
which you Jiave rendered to the Church at large by your
writings^ and to this Diocese of your residence in particular
by the high and complete character of your virtues^ by
your zeal for soulsy and by the influence of your presence
in the midst of us, I wish to convey to you the expres-
sion of my affection, veneration, and gratitude, by the
dedication of this book to your name. It is the last work
of any importance that 1 shall ever write, and I can only
wish that it were more worthy of your patronage,

1 am ever, my dear Lord Cardinal^

Your devoted and affectionate Servant in Christ,

+ WILLIAM BERNARD ULLATHORNE,
Bishop of Birmingham,

BirminghaMt i8th July, 1886,

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PREFACE.

This volume completes the series originally contemplated.
The Author's object has been to explain and inculcate
those fundamental principles of the Christian virtues which,
from their profundity, are least understood, but which most
contribute to the perfecting of the human soul. The first
volume, under the title of the Endowments of Man, esta-
blishes the doctrinal foundations of the Christian Virtues
The second, under the title of the Groundwork of the Chris-
tian Virtues, treats chiefly of Christian Humility as being
the receptive foundation of the other virtues. This third
volume treats of Christian Patience as being the positive
strength and disciplinary power of the soul. The sovereign
virtue of charity is explained throughout the three volumes.
In the production of the last volume, the Author has found
much less assistance from the Fathers of the Church and
the great spiritual writers than in the two previous ones.
As a rule, they have limited their instructions to that side of
the virtue which is exercised under sufierings ; and only a
limited number of them, among whom I may mention St.
Zeno, Tertullian, St. Gregory the Great, St. Bonaventure,
and St. Catherine of Siena, have treated of that most im-
portant side of the virtue by which it gives strength and
discipline to all the mental and moral powers, and perfec-
tion to all the virtues.

One remark is due to the reader. The only solid way of
explaining the virtues is by their principles and theii*
mutual connections. But to do this effectually requires

viii

PREFACE.

that the same principles be often repeated, as well to fix
them in the mind as to show their connection with the
practical details, and to give to those details greater light.
In the preface to his translation of the famous treatise of
Albert the Great, On adhering to God, Sir Kenelm Digby
observes : . " He often repeateth the same thing, but still
with some addition and further explication of the matter,
to inculcate it the deeper".

CONTENTS.

LECTURE I.

PAGE

The Work of Patience in the Soul . . . . i
lecture il

On the Nature and Object of Christian Patience . i8
LECTURE in.

On Patience as a Universal Virtue . . . • 41
lecture IV.

On Christian Fortitude 60

lecture v.

On the Patience of the Son of God .... 80

lecture vl

On Patience as the Discipline of the Soul ... 99
lecture vil

On Patience as the Perfecter of our Daily Duties . 120
lecture viil

Encouragements to Patience 139

lecture IX.

On the Gifts of the Holy Ghost 159

lecture x.

On Prayer 184

LECTURE XI.

On Patience in Prayer 208 I

LECTURE XIL

On the Cheerfulness of Patience .... 232

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LECTURE L

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LECTURE T.

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL.

"The trial of your faith worketh patience. And patience hath a perfect
work; that you may be perfect and entire, ^ling in nothing." — St. James
i- 3-4-

'HE perfection of the Christian soul consists in that complete

X and exquisite charity whereby we love God above all things,
and our neighbour as ourselves, for the love of God. This love,
this charity that perfects the soul, is the sublimest gift that we can
receive from God in this our exile, because God Himself is charity,
and the life of God is charity. In partaking of His charity, ac-
cording to our condition and capacity, as St. Peter says, "We are
made partakers of the divine nature," * that is, by a created parti-
cipation, and are made the children of God. For by charity God
lives in us and we in Him. The divine gift of charity is the
richest fruit of the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in most
humble and patient charity gave His life to His Father, not only
to deliver us from sin, but to obtain for us the supernatural life of
charity. This life is the work of the Holy Spirit of God, dwelling
in us, abiding in us, operating in us, uniting our life with the life
of God, and raising our will into a holy co-operation with the un-
speakable movements of His divinely given love. " If any one
loveth Me," saith our Lord, " he will keep My commandments,
and My Father will love him, and We wiU come to him, and will
make Our abode with him." t

The love of charity is the greatest thing that we can give to
God, because it originates with Him, and is moved by the action
of His Holy Spirit ; with it we freely give ourselves to God, and
through its means we return all to Him that He has given to us.

♦ 2 S. Peter L 4. + S. John xiv. 23.
I

2 THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL.

The love of God is our spiritual life ; it makes the will good, the
affections good, the soul good, and the work of the soul good. St.
Paul calls charity the bond of perfection ; it unites us with God,
unites us within ourselves, unites us with all spirits that love God,
and with all things whatever that God loves. It is the old com-
mandment, the new commandment, the greatest commandment,
the comprehension of all the commandments, the life of all the
virtues, the fulfilment of the whole law of God.

Hence all the other commandments, and all the other virtues
by which the will of God is fulfilled, look to the love of God, are
perfected by the love of God, and have their end in the love of
God, for charity brings them all to God. Faith is the steadfast
and unfailing light that guides the soul to the love of God 3 its
divine truths are the reasons of that love, and they shine into the
believing soul from the light of the Eternal Word Incarnate, and
flow from the teaching of His Church. Hope wings our aspira-
tions towards the Eternal Good which is promised to our love.
Humility subjects our nature in the consciousness of its great
needs to God, that we may be the subjects of His love. Charity
makes us like to God by the flame of living, life-giving love, upon
which we ascend in will and desire to Him whose nature is love,
and whose love is His unspeakable goodness.

Whatever affection is sinful or dishonouring to God and to the
soul is unworthy of the sacred name of love, because it is the enemy
of charity. Its true name is cupidity, which is vile, or self-loving
pride, which is a base perversion of our nature. These are affec-
tions that move against the light of faith and the very reason
of things, and are hostile to the sovereign laws of love. But the
charity of God makes the soul chaste, beautiful, and wise, whilst
she reaches towards God with the arms of love through the very
heart of grace. Countless considerations of God's goodness, mercy,
and compassion may join with the emanations of His charity to
move our hearts to love Him ; but when we have once entered
into His goodness and mercy, have felt His love, and tasted His
sweetness, we love Him for His own most pure and perfect ex-
cellence, and pass from sense to spirit, from self to God, and from
thinking of Him to adoring Him, who lives for ever and ever.
This is the infancy of beatitude ; the first dawn of the principle
of the glory to come ; the beginning of heaven amidst the dreary
obscurations and desolate confusion of this blind world.

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL. 3

In the Most Holy Trinity charity is the principle of the Divine
Unity, and the substantial energy of the Divine Life. Yet who
can form any true conception of that uncreated charity ? In this
life we can only know it by the sense we have in our spirit of the
resemblance of the gift of charity to the Divine Giver. In the
Holy Scriptures it is compared to a fire, but to a fire that is living,
life-giving, and unconsuming. In Daniel's vision of the Ancient of
Days, the throne on which He sat is " like flames of fire, and the
wheels of it like a burning fire". In Ezechiel's vision He is seated
upon glowing cherubs moving on fiery wheels, to represent the
unceasing action of His charity towards His intelligent creatures.
The Prophet Daniel beheld "a swift stream of fire that issued
forth before Him ; thousands of thousands ministered to Him,
and ten thousand times a hundred thousand stood before Him
When St. John beheld the glorious vision of the Son of God, "His
eyes were as a flame of fire ".t The Seraphs, those spirits nearest
the throne of God, are, as their name signifies, spirits of fire, that
is, of love. Our Divine Lord declared that He came to cast fire
on earth, and promised that His disciples should be baptized with
fire, that is, with the burning ardour of charity. Accordingly the
Holy Spirit came down upon the Apostles from heaven in tongues
of fire, thus outwardly expressing the interior ardour of charity that
enkindled their hearts with the unconquerable love of God and of
souls. That fire consumed the infirmities of their nature, and
gave them strength to conquer in the power of God. Hence the
prayer of the loving soul : " Send forth the fire of Thy charity

From charity God created all things, and for the sake of charity
He moves all that He has created. He made the material world
for the probation of souls, that in preferring their Creator to the
things created they might prove themselves worthy of His love,
and of receiving the rewards of love. For souls are made for the
high and noble prerogative of receiving and returning the love of
God. The saving providence of God moves through His creatures
from the bosom of His charity. His mercies, which are above all
His works, are the tender yearnings of His charity. He endures
the evils of sin and ingratitude with the patience of His charity,
waiting as a merciful Father the return of His children firom evil
to the good that He holds in readiness for their repentance.

* Daniel vii. 9-10. + Apocalypse i. 14.

4 THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL.

Woe, then, to that false science which puts matter before spirit,
sense before conscience, darkness before light, and the creature
before God, and professes to find the cause of light and love, those
sublimest gifts of the eternal charity of God, in the lowest and
least spiritual elements of His creation. It is an awful proof of
the extent to which cultivated intellects, lost to charity, can be
gained to pride, and of the utter perversion of that light of intelli-
gence which their minds have received from God "The fool
said in his heart : There is no God." ♦ The wise man exclaims :
Without the charity of God we are nothing.

Not only is the charity of God all-embracing, but it is most
abundantly communicative. The bosom of our Heavenly Father
is open to all His children made in His divine image ; to hear
their sighs, to receive their desires, to accept their prayers, to relieve
their wants, to deliver them from evil, to rescue them from misery.
Then does He cheer them with light and enkindle their souls
with love. He asks but their goodwill, and to their goodwill He
gives all that they are capable of receiving. To the souls that love
Him and seek His presence He sends down from His high
heavens perpetual streams of light and grace, to draw them who
are sanctified in the Blood of His Son more closely to His love, to
perfect their charity.

In your love you must also of necessity love that charity by
which you love God, because it is the most beautiful and inspiring of
the gifts of God. What can be so beautiful, what so enlarging, what
so delightful, as that all-embracing charity which descends like fire
from God, unites us in life with God, and also with all His good
angels and saints, and with all pious souls on earth, in one sacred
and living bond of union and communion of good ? Every one
who is brought out of the dark region of sin into the divine circle
of universal charity is not only made beautiful in his soul by the
love of God, but that soul partakes in her degree in all the charity
with which she is in communion by her charity, be the possessors
of that charity in heaven, on earth, or in the region of purifica-
tion. For we share in the charity of all whom we love and who
love us in God ; and true charity loves all that God loves. What
a sublime view does charity open into the communion of saints !

Nor does charity rest contented within this immense circle of

Psalm xiiL I.

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL. 5

spiritual life ; but as the God of all charity is merciful, patient, and
bountiful even to those who love Him not, and is always ready to
pardon their sins, and to give them His unspeakable love, even so
works the charity of God imparted to Christian souls. That charity
imitates His goodness. His patience, His benignity. His bounty,
and is patient, kind, and beneficent to all. " Love your enemies,
do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that persecute
and calumniate you : that you may be the children of your Father
who is in heaven, who maketh His sun to rise upon the good and
the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust." *

But it is one thing to receive the divine gift of charity, another
to have the virtue of charity, and another to have that virtue in
perfection. For although the gift is the principle of the virtue, it
is not the actual virtue, not that which makes charity our own.
It can only become the actual virtue when the will enters into the
gift, acts with the gift, and performs the interior and exterior works
of charity. For the will is the seat and power of love ; so that
what the will desires the will loves, and what the will seeks above
all things, the will loves above all things. When, therefore, the
will enters into the grace of charity, and is clothed with it, it
receives a divine power, exalting it above the order of nature, and
giving to it the supernatural flame of divine love. The heart is
the seat of our sensible affections, but these sensible affections are
purified and made spiritual, when moved by the will, and clothed
witli charity towards God, the supreme object of our actions and
desires. And it is by the pure and perfect exercise of the will,
free from all mixture of what is contrary to the love of God, and
exercised in the perfect gift of charity, that this holiest of virtues
is made perfect.

We must also bear in mind this solemn truth, that the
supreme and final object of all charitable service to our neighbour
is God Himself. For all charity moves towards God, as its
divine origin and final end. It moves as it were in a circle, from
God to us, and from us to God, then to our neighbour, and
through our neighbour to God, in virtue of the intention of charity.
We thus imitate our Heavenly Father's love to us, and join our-
selves to that love, and are the ministers of His love, kind, patient,
and forbearing to all from His gift ; and especially when, for His

• S. Matthew v. 44-45

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6 THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL.

sake, we give our help and service to those who are in affliction,
in poverty, in ignorance, or in distress. This is a holy com-
munion in which we partake in the good that we impart, and
receive increase of love from the love we put forth, growing in the
good that we communicate, and gaining strength from the resist-
ance we make against the reluctance of our nature, and from the
evil that we overcome in others.

"All the glory of the King's daughter is within."* This
daughter of the King is the soul bom of charity. The glory of
that soul is in the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit, and in the
principle and the promise of eternal glory. Charity is the living
beauty of the soul that seeks God through all the virtues ; it is the
sweet odour of God, the living flame that breaks out of His truth,
establishing order, purity, justice, goodness, and wisdom in the
soul. It is the sacred fire placed by the Holy Spirit upon the
altar of the heart. What is all philosophy compared to charity ?
Charity is the most practical philosophy, which from the heart
illuminates the understanding, because it is the noblest action of
truth, and reaches lovingly to the Divine Cause of all things.

But if the perfection of the soul consists in complete and exqui-
site charity, what room is there for other perfections ? Why does
St. James teach that "patience hath a perfect work"?t Why does
he insist that by patience we are made " perfect and entire, failing
in nothing"? St. Paul enforces the same doctrine, where he
says : " Patience is necessary for you : that doing the will of God,
you may obtain the promise"! And our Blessed Lord gives us
this solemn instruction : " In your patience you shall possess your
souls ".§ What, then, is the work of patience in the soul ?

In the first place, it must be observed that charity takes hold of
the other viitues, animates them with her fire, inspires them with
her motive, draws them into her service, and employs them,
whether faith, hope, humility, patience, or whatever other virtue,
for her own completion and perfection. In the second place,
such is the irritability, restlessness, weakness, and inconstancy of
the powers of our nature, considered in themselves, that they
require the firm control of patience to conquer them, and to bring
them into subjection to the sovereign virtue of charity. Hence,

♦ Psalm xliv. 14. + S. James i. 4. X Hebrews x. 36.
S S. Luke xxi. 19.

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL. 7

St. Paul teaches that "charity is patient";* and that it is patient
charity which enables us to " bear all things," and to " endure all
things". Hence, the Fathers and great spiritual divines have con-
cluded that the grace of patience is given with the grace of charity,
as well to protect it as to bring it to perfection. True patience for
the love of God is therefore the highest test and most evident
proof of the presence of a noble degree of charity ; because
patience is its perfecting quality, making it whole and entire, foil-
ing in nothing. It is the surest test, because it cannot be easily
mistaken, as it can only be obtained, even with the help of grace,
by dint of labour, self-combat, and effort; but we have the sensible
result in the possession of one's self and in peace of soul.

What do we find so difficult as to keep ourselves in our own
possession, so that no part of our nature shall slip away from the
command of the will, or from the empire of charity ? Our Divine
Lord seldom gives His reasons for His precepts, because they
carry in themselves their own light; but He has given us the
whole reason why we need the virtue of patience, when He tells
us that it is by this virtue we hold the possession of our souls.

This vigorous virtue of patience is the spiritual remedy which
God has provided against the weakness, perturbation, and incon-
stancy of our nature, exposed as it is to irritations, fears, tempta-
tions, cupidities, vanities, pride, and sadness. Every creature, by
reason of its origin from nothingness, when left to itself, is exposed
to division, dissolution, and foilure; unless it receive a divine
support, and a bracing strength of patience to hold it together,
that it may endure and persevere. But in our fallen nature, and
especially in that part of it which is material and animal, there is
a darkness, a baleful fire of cupidity, a root of selfishness, and a
restlessness, that war against the light and law of God in the soul,
darken her light, dissipate and trouble her powers, and draw her away
from the possession of herself. But the less she is in the posses-
sion of herself, the less capable is the soul of ascending to God,
and therefore the less capable of knowing God and loving Him.

The soul cannot possess herself when she is held in the posses-
sion of her mortal senses, appetites, or passions, or when held in
bondage to creatures that are less than herself, and that trouble,
degrade, and divide the soul, and take off her mind and will from

* I Corinthians xiii. 4.

8 THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUT

what is greater and better than herself. Nor can the soul possess
herself within herself, because she is made for God, and without
God for the chief object of her mind and affections she is poor,
disturbed, and discontented. She can only possess herself in God
through charity and patience, in love adhering to God, in patience
persevering in that adherence despite of all the perturbations and
fears of her inferior nature. Then will the soul find her powers
united and in possession of her will by reason of her union with
God ; but this will only be in proportion to her patience.

Hence, St. John Climachus observed that " to the spiritual man
patience is more essential than food," * and justly so ; for food
strengthens the body, and preserves it from weakness, but patience
fortifies the soul, and without it no virtue can be firm and solid.
But as we are bound to take more care of the soul than of the
body, it is evident that we ought to be more solicitous for patience
than for food. For, in the words of St. Peter Damian, " the man
whose patience breaks down may have other virtues, but he will
never have their strength and solidity t Patience is concerned
in all that we have to resist, in all that we have to deny ourselves,
in all that we have to endure, in all that we have to adhere to, and
in all that we have to do. This includes all human acts that bear
the character of duty or devotedness, whether those acts be purely
interior, or come forth into the exterior life and conduct. For
wherever patience fails, the act is weak and the work imperfect

This comprehensive view of the work of patience in man is
enlarged upon by that profound thinker Tertullian in the following
terms : " Patience protects the whole will of God in man and
enters into all His commandments. It fortifies faith, governs
peace, helps charity, prepares humility, conducts to penance, leads
to confession, rules the flesh, preserves the spirit, bridles the
tongue, controls the hand, breaks down temptations, expels scan-
dals, and consummates martyrdom '; it consoles the poor man,
moderates the wealthy man, suffers not the infirm man to sink
under his weakness, and allows not the strong man to consume
his strength; it delights the believer, attracts the unbeliever,
adorns the woman, and makes the man approved ; it is loved in
the youth, praised in the maturer man, and is looked up to in the

* S. J. Climachus, Scala Cor/i, grad, 37, n. 31.
t S.. P. Damian. L. vi. Epist, 9.

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL. 9

aged man. Patience is beautiful in both sexes and at every age.
The features of the patient one are calm and pleasant ; the brow
is pure, because free from the signs of sadness and of irritation ;
the eyes are peaceful 3 the mouth is sealed with discretion."*

Yet, next to the virtue of humility, there is no Christian virtue
that stands more in need of careful exposition than the virtue of
patience. Although well known in a popular way, and on the
surface, as it is opposed to anger, or as our sustainer under suffer-
ings, it is but little understood as a fundamental virtue of the soul,
and that only by those truly spiritual persons who are well exercised
in interior self-discipline, of which this virtue is the basis. It is
therefore of great importance that we should be instructed in its
ways and in the methods by which it is obtained.

So intimate is the connection between patience and humility,
that neither of these virtues can make much progress without the
other ; nor can charity advance towards its perfection without their
aid. The seraphic St. Francis, so deeply founded in these two
virtues, was wont to exclaim: "Hail humility with thy sister
patience I " What humility begins patience consolidates. Humi-
lity purifies the soul, patience fortifies the will ; humility subjects
the soul to God, patience rests the soul on God ; humility makes
the soul simple and sincere, patience makes her firm and constant ;
humility keeps the soul in her just and true position, patience
protects her in the peaceful possession of that position. It is not,
therefore, humility alone, or patience alone, but humility and
patience in their happy combination with charity, that establish
the groundwork of the Christian virtues ; and on this secure basis
we are able to work out our perfection. Hence St. Catherine of
Siena calls patience " the pith and marrow of charity

If we examine the Eight Beatitudes, we shall find that patience
is an essential constituent in every one of them ; if we hear the
spouse of Christ, the loving soul, declare in the Canticles, " He
hath set charity in order within me,"t the order of charity is
secured by patience. By patience was the Church of God built
up ; by patience every holy soul is built up. In his great vision
of the combat throughout the ages of the Church with the world,
St. John sums up the final triumph of God's servants in these
words : " Here is the patience of the saints, who keep the com-
mandments of God and the faith of Jesus "J Not only does St.
* Tertullian, De Palientia^ c. 15. t Canticles ii. 4. % Apocalypse xiv. 12,

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lo THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL.

Paul teach in various places that patience is the virtue that com-
pletes and perfects charity, but in a special prayer for his disciples
he asks for them the combination of these two virtues : " May the
Lord direct your hearts in the charity of God and the patience of
Christ"*

If we contemplate the provident action of God as it moves
through His creation, we everywhere see the signs of His divine
patience, sustaining what is by nature feeble, upholding what left
to itself must fall, enduring evil and disorder for the sake of final
good, providing for all things according to their needs, and
conducting all things to their destinies according to His eternal
designs. If we contemplate the ways of God in souls, with what
a sovereign patience He endures their wayward follies and un-
grateful crimes, to bring them from their evil to His good I If we
contemplate those souls themselves, or look carefully into our
own, our experience of the weakness and inconstancy of our
nature will teach us how greatly we stand in need of the gift and
virtue of patience. This truth has been so admirably expressed
by a holy Bishop and Martyr of the third century that we here
give his words.

St. Zeno says: "Whilst we seek the blessed life with the earnest
sighs of our nature, and look for it through the various virtues,
they are all brought to their rest through patience. Without
patience nothing can be conceived by the mind, nothing can be
understood, nothing can be taught. For all things look to patience.
Neither faith nor hope; neither justice nor humility; neither
chastity nor honesty ; nor concord ; nor charity ; nor any act of
virtue ; nor even the elements of nature; are able to hold together,
or keep their consistency, without the nerve, restraint, and disci-
pline of patience. Patience is always mature : it is humble, pru-
dent, cautious, provident, and contented under every necessity
that arises. Tranquil in the day of clouds and amidst the tempests
of provocation, it allows nothing to disturb the serenity of the
soul. The patient man knows of neither alteration nor regret.
Who can say that he ever suffers loss? Whatever he has to
endure, you will find him as complete at the end of his sufferings
as though he had suffered nothing. How can we calculate the
results of his patience? When he seems to have undergone
defeat, we find he has got the victory.

* 2 Thessalonians iii. 5.

Digitized by

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL, ii

" No force, no violence, can drive patience from its position.
Neither labour, nor hunger, nor nakedness, nor persecution, nor
fear, nor danger, can move patience from its resolution. No
power, no torments, no death, come it in whatever shape, no
ambition, no enjoyment of felicity, can shake the constancy of
patience. Robustly balanced in a certain elevated and divine
temperance that calms the soul into peaceful moderation, patience
abides immovable ; and to enable it to master all difficulties, its
first conquest is over the soul herself. The virtues cannot be
virtues; nor can the state of the elements be lasting; nor can
they flow in their well-known connection through their solemn
circles, unless patience like a solicitous mother be the keeper of
things and the regulator of their changes." *

It is an obvious truth that what is weak by nature or constitu-
tion, and liable to fail, can only be made strong by the infusion of
strength, or by adhering to what is strong and unchangeable. But
moral strength, that which makes the soul strong, whether in
action or endurance, is patience. Let us examine these principles
by the light of the inspired Psalmist. When surrounded with
trials, oppressed, and almost smothered with temptations, he feels
all the weakness of his nature, and is troubled with disturbing
fears. But he breaks away from them in this fervid cry : " Shall
not my soul be subject to God ? For from Him is my salvation.
For He is my God and my Saviour : my protector, I shall be
moved no more." The Hebrew text, as the commentators observe,
is more forcible. It indicates a silent subjection to God that
neither doubts, murmurs, complains, nor listens to temptation,
and a resting on God as the rock of his strength. After de-
scribing his enemies rushing upon him, as though he were "a
leaning wall and a tottering fence," he thus addresses his own
soul : " Be thou, O my soul, subject to God, for from Him is my
patience. For He is my God, and my Saviour : He is my helper,
I shall not be moved." t

In other Psalms the Royal Prophet invokes the Almighty as
his "firmament and his refuge," and as the fortress of his
strength; and calls God his patience, because from Him he
derives the strength of patience, rests on H m as the foundation
of His strength, and finds in Him his protection. In the

* S. Zeno, De Patientia^ c. I.

f Psalm Ixi. 1-7.

12 THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL.

seventieth Psalm he says : " Be Tbou to me a God, a protector,
and a place of strength, that Thou mayest make me safe. For
Thou art my firmament and refuge. . . . Thou art my
patience, O Lord; my hope, O Lord, from my youth."* He
thus teaches, from his own interior experience as well as from
his light, that our patience is derived from adhering to the
unchangeable strength of God, and from receiving the gift of
strength from His bounty. Rising in another Psalm to that more
fundamental and steadfast patience which takes the name of
fortitude, of which he has received the gift, the Sacred Singer
says: "I will sing Thy fortitude, and will extol Thy mercy ".t
And in the consciousness that this noble gift is mainly given that
by its force he may adhere to God, he says again : " I will keep
my fortitude to Thee ".J

We are here taught by the Holy Spirit, through th^ soul of
David, that God is our patience, our fortitude, and our strength,
provided we rest our souls on Him, adhere to Him, are subject to
His strengthening influences, and work with them in loyal co-
operation. " Patience is so great a gift of God," observes St
Augustine, " that it is even ascribed to Him who waits so long
for the conversion of the sinner. God cannot suffer, yet though
incapable of suffering He takes the name of patience. But as He
neither suffers nor is subject to impatience, who can say what the
patience of God is ? It is as incomprehensible as His zeal. His
anger, or anything of like kind." §

But if we consider patience as it is the enduring strength of
charity, that admits not the entrance of evil within the divine
circle of good, whilst it endures the existence of external evil
for the sake of greater good, then we shall approach nearer to
understanding the patience of God; because God is charity, and
charity is patient. As what is weak of itself obtains strength by
adhering to what is strong, the weak human will obtains strength
to keep the whole man in discipline by adhering to God and
receiving power to repel the movements of temptation and the
risings of irritation, and to quiet the perturbations of the spirit,
come from whatever cause they may. " We are directed," says
the profound TertuUian, " to exercise the authority of patience^

• Psalm Ixx. 3-5. t Psalm Iviii. 17. t Psalm IviiL 10.
§ S. Augustin. De Patientia^ c 2.

Digitized by

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL, 13

not from any cynical affectation of equanimity (like the pagans),
but from the divine disposition of a celestial and life-giving disci-
pline, of which God is the example."*

We shall better understand the divine power of patience if we
consider how all moral evil has sprung in the first instance, and
still springs in its beginning, from impatience. St. Zeno, Tertul-
lian, St. Cyprian, St. Augustine, and several other early Fathers
have treated on this subject. Every kind of spiritual creature was
first preated by God in a good state, and received grace to love
Him and to adhere to Him as the supreme good of their nature.
This implied the grace of charity and patience — charity to love,
patience to persevere and to endure their probation ; but being
weak by nature, owing to their origin from nothingness, and
having free will to choose their own acts, they were exposed to the
danger of neglecting their grace, and of giving themselves to self-
love, self-will, and cupidity. So long as they remained 'with patient
perseverance in the love and will of God, they were sinless ; but
so soon as they yielded their will to temptation, they lost the
patience by which they adhered to God, to His love and to His
will, becoming impatient of the good they possessed through the
curiosity and desire of trying what was evil ; and thus, with the
loss of patience, they became weak, irritable, sinful, separated
from God, and divided within themselves. It must also be re-
membered that, according to the Scriptures and the traditions
both of the Rabbins and the Christian Fathers, Satan and his
angels fell through jealousy of the high dignity conferred on man
at his creation.

After this explanation, let us hear the words of TertuUian, which
are repeated in substance by St. Cyprian and St. Augustine. He
says : " As patience is in God, we must expect ^o find the first
adversary of patience in the first enemy of God. We detect the
birth of impatience in Satan, when he could not patiently endure
that God should subject all that He had created to His image in
man. Then it was that his impatience conspired with his mahce.
Adam, again, would never have Men had he stood with patience
within the divine commandment. He was innocent; he was the
friend of God ; he was* in possession of paradise. But in losing his
patience he fell from the wisdom of God and ceased to be capable

• Tertullian. De Paiientia, c. 2.

14 THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL,

of divine things. Cast out of paradise, he became a man of the
earth, and was easily taken hold of by impatience in things of-
fensive to God. Look upon the catalogue of sins, and you will
find that they all begin with the loss of patience; for evil is
impatience of good. No one is impure who is not impatient of
purity, or unjust who is not impatient of justice, or unquiet who
is not impatient of tranquillity. Whoever is evil is impatient of
good." *

The seat of patience, as of all the virtues, is in the will. Its
office is to hold the will with firm steadfastness to what is reason-
able, just, orderly, and true, and to withhold the will by refusing it
to what is unreasonable, unjust, disorderly, or false. For example,
the patience of faith holds the will with firmness and constancy to
the truths revealed by God, and keeps to the divine motives of
faith, whatever sufferings the soul may have to endure for the sake
of her faith ; whilst this same patience of faith refuses the will to
error and to whatever may tempt the soul to relax her hold of
faith. The patience of hope holds fast by the will, with unswerv-
ing confidence, to the goodness, mercy, and promises of God, and
refuses to let the will be moved into despondency or sadness, or
to whatever may tempt the soul to lessen her confidence in God.
The patience of charity adheres by the will habitually to God- with
love and gratitude, and that notwithstanding every kind of obscura-
tion, trial, or loss of sensible devotion, and refuses to yield up
the will to whatever might weaken, diminish, or contradict the
love of God.

So it is in every other virtue. Patience holds the will with con-
stancy to the good upon which it is engaged, and withholds the
same will firom those provocations or temptations that would
weaken or destroy the virtue in its act by putting evil or falsehood
in its place. Hence you will find that the first movement towards
evil is always a disturbing movement of impatience.

It is therefore laid down as a principle, as well by the pagan
philosophers as by the Christian moralists, each taking their own
view of it, that patience is the virtue of the virtues, that is to say, it
is the force that gives them their vigour, endurance, and solidity.
St. Gregory calls it " the root and guardian of the virtues ".t It

• Tertullian. De Paiientia, c 5.
+ S. Greg. Mag. Horn, 56, in Evangd,

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL. 15

is the root, as supplying them with strength and consistency ; it is
the guardian, as protecting them from perturbation and evil. As
the tree obtains its strength from being rooted in the ground, the
soul, which is the tree of virtue, obtains her strength from patiently
adhering to God. As a fortress girds round its inhabitants and
defends them from the assaults and alarms of their enemies, so
patience defends the virtues from the temptations and alarms that
assail them. Hence St. Zeno observes that " the worth of patience
is not so much in the multiplying as in the perfecting of the
virtues ".* When St. Paul speaks of the faithful who are " rooted
and grounded in charity," t he evidently refers to that charity which
is firm and constant by reason of its patience.

Taking this profound view of Christian patience, St. Augustine
defines it in these terms : — " Patience is the enduring of evils with
an equable mind, lest through an evil disposition we should give
up that good which brings us to our greatest good ".J The good
we have already as devout Christians is the sense of God, the light
of faith, the grace of Christ, the friendship of God through com-
munication of His Holy Spirit, and peace of heart through the
absence of grievous sin. This good, already in the soul, brings us
through the exercise of charity to our supreme good. But through
impatience, vexation of spirit, and sadness, patience glides away,
and the good we have is disturbed, scattered abroad, and dimi-
nished ; and what is worse, if we enter into an evil disposition,
patience is relaxed more and more, and as impatience and sadness
take its place, the habits of grace and virtue are weakened and
lowered, the light of the soul becomes obscured ; and if we alto-
gether lose the patience of charity, that divine gift itself becomes
extinguished together with our supernatural life.

In St. Paul's magnificent description of charity, the object of
the Apostle is to show, that whilst it is inseparable from faith, it is
perfected by unselfishness and patience. Weigh the qualities one
by one which the Apostle ascribes to this most excellent of virtues,
and you will find that this is the sum of their sense : " Charity,"
he says, "is patient, is kind ; charity envieth not, dealeth not per-
versely ; is not puffed up. Is not ambitious, seeketh not her own,
is not provoked to anger, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth not in

* S. Zeno, De PaHentia, t Ephes. iii. 17,
X S. Augustin. De PaHentia^ c. 2.

1 6 THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL.

iniquity, but rejoiceth with the truth; beareth all things, believeth
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."* From the
nature of charity it must have these qualities. Without faith it could
not be grounded in supernatural truth, without unselfishness it
could not be generous, without patience it could not endure, nor
could it repulse its enemies. In the words of St. Cyprian : " If
you take patience away from charity, it languishes in desolation
and cannot endure +

If you consider the human soul as a spiritual coin that bears
the image and superscription of God, faith is the mould that gives
it a divine figure, and charity is its golden quality. Humility
gives it gravity, discretion flexibility, and patience durability.
When that soul is tried in the fire of tribulation, and its charity
put to the test by reproaches and calumny, then will the degree
of her patience show how far the virtue of that soul bears the
character of durability. For, as it is said in the Proverb : " He
that is impatient suffers damage ".f And again : " The learning
of a man is known by patience, and his glory is to pass over
wrongs ".§ But as the vice of obstinacy makes pretensions to the
virtue of patience, although it is but the stupidity of pride, true
patience must also stand the test of humility. For there may be
a proud endurance of contumely that is nothing better than folly \
just as the worm of pride may be concealed in the apparent
humility of sackcloth. ||

After this general exposition of the work of patience in the soul,
what shall we say in conclusion ? As a divine attribute of God
patience is infinite and eternal. In His divine benignity He
exhibits that patience towards us in bearing with our offences and
ingratitude, and in waiting for our repentance and return to His
love. As He has made us to His image that we may be formed
to His likeness, He sends to us the grace of patience through the
gift of charity, that through its faithful exercise we may imitate His
patience. This virtue is the tonic medicine of our enfeebled
nature; it fortifies the will, soothes down the irritabilities that
derange the soul, braces the powers into unity, and gives stability
to all the virtues. It secures the mind from dissipation, the will
from perturbation, and enables us to preserve our self-possession.

* I Corinthians xiii. 4-7. + S. Cyprian. De Bono Patientia.
% Prov. xix. 19. § lb. II.
I! Gerson. De Distinctiane Verarum Visionum a falsis.

THE WORK OF PATIENCE IN THE SOUL. 17

It is the pith and marrow of charity, strengthening the love of God
in the children of light, that it may persevere under every cloud of
tribulation and adversity.

As the rock resists the surging waves, patience resists the surges
of temptation, and scatters them into empty foam. In the day of
weakness and suffering it upholds the spirit above them in the
serene atmosphere of cheerfulness, and will not suffer her to sink
into the wasting disease of sadness. In a word, and that word
shall be St. Cyprian's, "Patience is not only the keeper of good
but the preventer of evil, repelling whatever is adverse to good.
Obedient to the Holy Spirit, it adheres to celestial and divine
things; and standing in opposition to those solicitations of the
body that assault and capture the soul, it contends for the virtues
as from a fortress of strength." *

"Oh, patience," exclaims St. Zeno, "thou art the queen of all
things, and I know that thou restest more safely on thy own
foundations, on thy own counsels, and on thy own good ways than
in the words of those who are strangers to thee. Thy praise is
not in multiplying, but in strengthening the virtues. Thou givest
to virginity the flower that never fades. Thou art the safe har-
bour of widowhood from the storms of life. Thou art the strength
of the yoke of married life, enabling its burden to be borne with
the forbearance of an equal love. Thou teachest friendship how
to will and to forbear the same things. Thou givest freedom to
the rugged labourer, and art the consoler of his toils. To poverty
thou givest the privilege of bearing all things, that so it may possess
all things. The Prophets were raised to their sublime office by
patience. The Apostles adhered to Christ through patience. Thou
art the nursing mother of the Martyrs, and their crown. As the
knot binds the flowing tresses on the head of the modest maiden,
thou bindest up the virtues into unity with beauty and honour.
Happy, eternally happy, is he who hath thee always in his com-
pany." t

♦ S. Cyprian. De Bone Patientia^ c. 14,
t S. Zeno, De Fatientia,

Digitized by

LECTURE II.

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

" Patience is necessary for you : that doing the wiU of God, you may re-
ceive the promise." — Hebrews x. 36.

WHEN we have obtained a clear insight into the precise
nature of any virtue, of how it works in the soul, and to
what purpose it is directed, we have gained the knowledge both of
what it is and of what it is not ; and we are able to distinguish its
action from every other movement of the will. This knowledge
is of great importance for the cultivation of virtue; for, as an
engineer cannot work his engine satisfactorily unless he knows
what belongs to every part of its construction, a soul cannot man-
age herself with intelligence unless she knows what belongs to her
several powers in the exercise of the virtues. When one thing in
the soul is confused by the mind with another, the will cannot
work in clear light, and may even confound what is opposed to a
virtue with the virtue itself, causing error, perplexity, and uneasi-
ness.

There are many people who read expositions of the virtues in
books, and have a real desire to profit by them \ yet the knowledge
they gain is but little compared with what they might obtain, because
they look more into the book than into themselves. They do not
reflect upon their own interior state, or upon their own interior
operations, in doing which the book is intended to assist them,
nor do they carefully observe what passes within their souls.
Their knowledge is book-knowledge, not self-knowledge, and is
consequently shallow, without roots within them, and quickly fades
and passes away. Such unreflecting readers are like the man who
beholds his face in a glass, goes his way, and presently forgets
what manner of man he is; but if we look upon a book as no more

Digitized by

NATUREAND OBJECT OFCHRISTIAN PATIENCE, 19

than a help to self-knowledge and the perfecting of the virtues,
and if we second the book by interior reflection and observation,
then it will enable us to read and understand the interior book of
the soul, which has the immense advantage of being illuminated
with spiritual light ; and we shall thus obtain a knowledge all our
own, a true and lasting possession always ready to do us service.
But this demands for its accomplishment that very virtue of
patience which it is the object of this book to inculcate.

The first thing required to be understood is that patience is an
immediate exercise of the will, which is the spring of all free and
moral action. It must not, therefore, be confounded with the
sentiments, sensibilities, or feelings, because it is a pure act of the
will. But although, like all real virtue, it springs from the reso-
lution and action of the will, as enlightened by the mind and
conscience, patience, like every other virtue, uses the other
faculties of the soul, and even the members of the body, as its
instruments, the will making them obedient to execute its com-
mands, and to act in submission to its force and direction. But
the will of the good Christian is elevated by divine motives and
sentiments, and is energized by divine grace, so that the strength
of virtue depends upon the supernatural gifts of God. But what
has to be mainly looked to is the will, because when the will is
good and resolute, and goes in the right direction, the whole man
follows as a matter of course.

The second thing to be understood where patience is concerned
is the double action of the will, the action by which the will ad-
vances, and the action by which it recedes and refuses its co-opera-
tion. It advances to what it loves ; it recedes and refuses to be
united to what it dislikes or hates. The virtuous will desires and
wills what is good, but refuses to give itself up to what is vicious
or disorderly ; and although this refusal is often said to be passive,
it is in fact a strong act of the will, and often requires more
strength and resolution than it does to desire and will what is
good. Hence this kind of action is the greatest practical proof of
the freedom of the will. For, when the will is attracted by some
strong inferior appetite, or urged by some strong passion, to move
in the direction of evil or disorder, and yet, adhering to higher
and better motives, that will draws back upon itself and refuses to
be drawn away by that appetite, or to be driven by that passion ;
this is not only the greatest proof of the freedom of the will, but

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

it is the greatest act of virtue. But what we have here described
is the interior action of patience.

But left to its own nature, the will is so weak, movable, and
restless, it is so readily attracted by curiosity, its attention is so
quickly turned to whatever is felt within us or that moves around
us, that it cannot be truly firm and patient unless it have a firma-
ment upon which to rest far stronger than nature can provide, and
a strength incomparably beyond its own, as well as a motive more
exalted than mere nature can supply. This firmament is the God
in whom we live, and on whom the soul must rest by adherence
to Him. This strength is the supernatural grace of God given to
the will. This motive, greater and stronger than all others, on which
to place both the attention and intention of the will, is the light
and love of God. When the will thus rests on God, looks to God,
and draws strength from God, that patience is generated which
resists all evils and disorders, gives us the possession of ourselves,
and keeps the soul in peace. "Be thou, O my soul, subject
to God, for from Him is my patience." *

If we take the common definition of Christian patience, it is the
virtue that strengthens the soul to resist provocations and temp-
tations, and to endure afflictions^ so as neither to give up the good
of virtue nor to commit sin. This definition is sufficiently com-
prehensive to include the different ways in which patience is exer-
cised, as well as the different adversaries to which it is opposed ;
and it shows that the chief object of the virtue is to keep the soul
in the peaceful possession of herself. But it should be clearly un-
derstood by every one who values the perfection of his actions that
this virtue of patience depends a great deal more upon the interior
management of the soul than upon our exterior conduct ; not only
because it must necessarily begin there, and make progress there,
and there in the interior establish order and peace ; but also be-
cause if the interior man is patient the exterior man will be pre-
served in patience. For impatience begins within the soul, and
from thence proceeds to the exterior man.

Patience is both a special and a universal virtue. As a special
virtue it is opposed to two special vices. As a general or universal
virtue it gives strength, stability, and protection to all the virtues,
and is opposed to every vice. We have here to consider it as it

* Psa'm Ixi. 6.

o:p christian patience.

is a special virtue ; and as such it is opposed to vexation and anger
on the one hand, and to sadness on the other. For these are the
chief destroyers of patience.

Vexation and anger are both opposed to the good of reason and
to the good of virtue. They darken the light of justice, take us
from our self-possession, bring us into disorder, disturb our peace,
and diminish or destroy charity. They set fire to the other pas-
sions and appetites, and lead us into evil. But they are also
mixed with sadness, and when anger subsides sadness remains,
and is increased by the reaction from the excitement and folly of
anger. Hence St. Thomas defines the special virtue of patience
to be the virtue that preserves the good of reason against sadness,
so that reason may not sink under its influence. For the moral
virtues have good for their object, and protect the good which the
light of reason dictates against the disturbance of the passions.
But amongst those passions sadness is one that greatly hinders the
good of reason from guiding the soul aright, and in accordance
with the light of justice.*

Sadness is a very subtle vice, working often in its beginning
without being perceived. But grief and sadness are at the be-
ginning of vexation and anger, and act as stimulants to these pas-
sions ; and when the excitement of passion subsides the dregs that
remain are a more bitter grief and more desolating sadness. St
Paul says: "The sadness of the world worketh death ",t And
according to Ecclesiasticus : "Sadness hath killed many, and
there is no profit in it "4 Hence the soul has great need of
patience to keep her from sadness.

Vexation is the beginning of anger, which has many degrees
from mild resentment to outrageous fury. Anger is a sensitive,
irascible, vindictive passion, a complication of many passions
with one prevailing appetite, the appetite of revenge. It springs
out of grief and sadness, owing to some real or imaginary dis-
paragement, offence, contempt, or injury, threatened or inflicted
upon us, or upon some one dear to us, and it awakens in us the
appietite of retorting wrong or avenging injury. As anger rises to
the height of passion the blood starts up, the nerves are shook,
the heart becomes tumid, the brain is suffused, the mouth trembles,

* S. Thomas. Sum. 2. 2. q. 36. a. I. f 2 Corinthians vil io«
X Ecclus. XXX. 25.

Digitized by

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

the tongue is impeded in its utterance, the face glows with baleful
fire, the whole man is a painful and unsightly spectacle. The
excitement of the animal man overwhelms the spiritual man, and
reason sinks under the masterful dominion of passion. It is an
intoxication and a madness for the time it lasts.

If we look into the interior of the angry man, he can be no
longer recognized for what he was. Imagination has usurped the
place of reason, and crowds the mind with hateful images and
vindictive motives. " Lashed with anger, the soul is all in dis-
order, her peace has fled, and, rent and torn with sharp and bitter
trouble, that soul is herself no longer. She has lost the power
derived from her resemblance to God." * The mind has lost its
guiding light, the will its rational power, pride takes the place of.
good sense, hatred the place of charity, and vindictiveness the
place of justice ; and yet anger affects to be nothing less nor more
than justice. To quote the experience of one who had long to
contend with great anger under great and ignominious sufferings :
" An excited mind ceases to reason ; carried away by a resistless
torrent of wild ideas, it forms for itself a sort of mad logic, full of
anger and malignity ; it is a state of soul as unphilosophical as it is -
absolutely unchristian f

Anger opens the door to all the vices and passions ; and as that
guardian virtue of patience is thrust aside, there is nothing left
that can prevent their entrance. Hence tumidity, grief, rashness,
audacity, clamour, contention, strife, hatred, insult, contumely,
indignation, and violence, all follow after anger, and feed its
desolating flames. It smothers reason, conf6unds wrong with
right, extinguishes prudence, breaks up friendship, treads down
the wisdom of counsel, befools the wise, lacerates gravity, destroys
peace, and shuts out the Holy Spirit from the Christian soul. It
has been well observed by Hugo of St. Victor that "as pride takes
man from God, and envy takes the man from his neighbour, anger
takes the man from himself". %

We have described the vice of anger in its full-blown pride and
disorder, and in its deadly degree, because when a vice is seen in
all its magnitude we are better able to see what vicious and hateful
elements it contains; and so can more easily understand that

•S. Greg. Mag. Moral, in Job, L. v. c 30. . + Silvio Pell ico, Le mie Prigionu
X Hugo de S. Viclore, De SeptenariiSy c. Ii.

Digitized by

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

even in its less and lower degrees the germs of those same vices
are not wanting, although they escape the observation of those
who are unaccustomed to much self-examination. But sensitive-
ness, touchiness, annoyance, and such smaller degrees of im-
patience are not without irritation and interior disturbance ; but
when it comes to displeasure, discontent, murmuring, resentment,
vexation, retort, indignation, or disdain, there is a degree of anger
in the soul, not without at least an equal degree of sadness.

But it is precisely these degrees of irritation and vexation, when
first rising from our inferior nature, and making themselves sen-
sible to our superior nature, to our light, and to our conscience,
that present the most numerous occasions for self-discipline, by
the exercise of which our patience may be armed and fortified
against more serious attacks of anger. The first movements of
impatience, the first uneasiness of dissatisfaction, are warnings to
patience to be upon its guard, lest trouble arise to disturb the soul
and take hold of the will. If we calmly look down from the
superior soul upon the first movements of irritation or impa-
tience, nothing can appear more contemptible ; and under the
rebuke of the gaze of our interior eye they vanish in shame. One
has seen from Alpine heights a little white cloud down in the
valley below, which, unless some wind blows its away, will rapidly
swell and grow until the whole region is enveloped in mist, fog,
and rain. So is it with the first little cloud of troubjp and discon-
tent that moves in our lower nature : the breath of patience will
disperse it, but if left to itself it will quickly grow on what it feeds
upon, and will envelop and fill the soul with anger and vexation.
For anger is a brooding vice that feeds on sensitive self-love and
imaginary wrong fer beyond the original offence, if indeed offence
has been given.

It is a good point of prudence to realize to ourselves the good
qualities of those with whom we have to act, and which are
almost always more and better in the heart than appears on the
surface, and yet not to forget their obvious limitations and infir-
mities ; that we may not only not misjudge their intentions, but
may also know what we can justly expect from them, and what
we cannot reasonably look for. This will . save an enormous
amount of misconception, rash judgment, irritation, and vexation.
We have all very different characters, and the difference arises
from our personal limitations, which are owing partly to nature,

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

partly to the circumstances that have attended upon our several
lives, and much to the habits in which we have been formed.
But it is absurd to expect the same habits, sentiments, qualities,
and powers in all persons, to judge all persons by the same
standard, to exact what does not exist, and then give way to
annoyance and discontent because we have not found what we
desired. As the old proverb says, we must take people for what
they are, and make just and due allowances, remembering that
others have to allow for our limitations.

If a man chooses a partner in life for certain good qualities,
and finds with time that some others are deficient, the whole
happiness of that family depends upon his forbearance with
respect to those limitations, and upon his doing his best to
supply them. The same may be said of those who elect their
superiors ; one is chosen by preference for certain leading quali-
ties, but there may be limitations as well \ yet how preposterous
would it be for subjects to fix their minds upon those minor
deficiencies, and to make them the occasion of murmuring,
complaint, and discontent, forgetting all the good qualities for
which that person was chosen. A little society comes together,
under certain regulations, for one common purpose ; but unless
the members of that society make mutual allowance for the
diversity of characters and limitations of which it is composed,
unless they bear and forbear, give and take, with equal goodwill,
contention and anger will enter that society and rend its happi-
ness asunder. The Apostolic rule- "Bear ye one another's
burdens, and so you shall fulfil the law of Christ,"* is the law of
patient charity.

Applying this law to religious societies, the venerable Gerard,
commenting on the Rule that formed the author of the Imitation
of Christ, breaks forth in this exclamation : " Never, no, eternally
never, can charity and concord reign in a community where holy
patience does not absolutely rule ".f

Such is the difference of natures, temperaments, and inclina-
tions, that it is impossible for a number of persons to live and
act together in peace with each one, and in concord with all,
unless each one holds his sensitive self-love under the control of
patience, and merges his private interests in the common good.

* Galatians vi. 2, t Gerardus Belga, in cap, 58, S, Regula.

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

St Paul had this great law of Christian society in view when he
wrote these words to the Galatians : " You have been called unto
hberty : only make not your liberty an occasion to the flesh, but
by charity of the spirit serve one another. But if you bite and
devour one another; take heed you be not consumed by one
another. ... If we live in the Spirit, let us walk in the Spirit
Let us not be made desirous of vainglory, provoking one another,
envying one another."*

Almost every one has some defect in body, manners, conduct,
or way of thinking and speaking ; and we have not unfrequently
to come in contact with those who are rude or even vicious ; but
if we lose sight of what is due to the immortal soul, and give way
to annoyance, disgust, or loathing, we lose our patience, become
deformed ourselves by that loss, and inflict wounds on our own
charity and on that which is due to our neighbour. Now, if we
trace this conduct to its root, we shall find that it originates in the
impatience of fastidious self-love ; yet if we profess to follow
Christ, and to imitate His ways, we should remember that He
chose for Himself a society of simple, uncultivated persons, and
conversed affectionately with publicans and sinners. We forget
how others have to bear with our defects, and that we are a cause
of trial to our neighbours. Blinded by self-love, we see the mote
in our brother's eye, and forget the beam in om own.

There is nothing that drives us to impatience so vehemently,
or throws us into greater interior disorder, than an injury, or the
imagination of an injury, which is far more frequent than real
injury. For sensitive persons, who have but little interior self-
discipline, are prompt to imagine themselves injured in word or
deed ; and what is greatly to be noted, they are much more
inclined to imagine themselves injured by their friends and by
their superiors than by other persons. The reason is because
they attach more importance to their affection, claim more of
their indulgence, and suffer more intensely if they think that they
are undervalued or disparaged by them. Should they become
dissatisfied with themselves, and therefore conscious of blame,
they readily suspect that others disesteem them, and are quick to
interpret their words and acts in that sense. Then a little spark
sets their soul in flames. Such persons ought to set a law on

♦ Galatians, v. 13-15 and 25-26.

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

their imagination, and keep their inflammable suspicions of wrong
under the control of patience ; they ought to suspect their own
suspicions, which experience tells them are often unjust, or their
sensitive self-love will never leave them in peace. For many
things are said and done without the least intention of injury ;
some from quickness of tongue, some from inadvertence or
thoughtlessness, some in good-natured jest, some from good
intentions, some from mere imprudence ; and no one has any
right to take any of them in bad part, and so commit himself to
anger, grief, and sadness.

Few there are who have not observed that even the just cor-
rection of those whose duty it is to correct, instead of being
taken in good part, is too often converted into anger, grief, and
sadness by weak souls, who exhibit thereby a spirit at once mean
and ungrateful. Where such is the case, rebuke has justified
itself and has revealed to that soul an interior state of disorder
that calls for the most vigorous redress. It is high time for that
soul to become offended with her own conduct

But if any one should falsely or maliciously assail our good
name and reputation — a mode of detraction not limited, alas ! to
the children of the world — let us, in that case, keep our magna-
nimity, that our virtue may be stronger than another's vice, and that
our patience may suffer no loss by reason of another's improbity.
Rather should we rejoice in the Lord that He has called us by
these means to greater justice, which is commonly bom, receives
its growth, and obtains perfection among injuries and insults. In
the nature of things, justice is hated by injustice ; and therefore
our Lord was hated by Judas, by the Sadducees, and by the
Pharisees. But He has promised a great beatitude to those who
suffer injuries with patience.

There are also abundant occasions given us for the discipline of
patience in those material things and events, which are opposed
to our inclinations and desires by necessity, and independently of
our choice. Such are corporal infirmities and maladies, intense
heat or cold, severity of weather, the uncomplying nature of
materials in which we work, and other like things. However
unreasonable it may be to give way to vexation or anger with
things insensible, yet many have so little wisdom as to lose their
peace and patience over them. Nay, some have so little patience
as to lose temper over the bite of a fly, the dulness of a pen, the

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

bluntness of a knife, or the tightness of a shoe. Like little children
devoid of reason, they will ascribe guiltiness to things incapable
of intention, and have their little revenge upon them at the
expense of their sense, patience, and serenity.

We come at last to those great calamities in which individuals,
families, and whole communities are involved or overwhelmed,
whether by the injuries of men or the visitation of God. Such
misfortunes try the constancy of the brave, and expose feebler
souls to the danger of desponding sadness. Now, if reason should
prove unavailing to set a measure to grief, let faith prevail ; and
when all seems lost on earth, let us look up to Heaven for better
things. For when things are at their worst according to the world,
if the calamity is rightly used, they begin to be at their best
according to God. All things are in God's hands, to give or take
as He chooses ; and an immortal soul is more precious in His
sight than all that the world can give. When He strips a soul of
earthly things. He calls upon that soul to look to Him and to
trust in His care and providence. His dispositions are wonderful;
He plays in the world with the children of men, stripping but to
clothe more generously ; striking but to heal ; casting down but to
raise up ; bringing to the gates of death, and restoring to life.
When holy Job was stripped of his earthly goods and all his dear
ones, the God who holds all things in His hands remained to Him;
and therefore he kept his patience, and held to God with
unswerving trust ; whilst the voice of his resignation arose in these
memorable words : " The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken
away : as it hath pleased the Lord, so is it done : blessed be the
name of the Lord. In all these things Job sinned not with his
lips, nor spoke any foolish thing against God." ♦ " And the Lord
blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning." t

There is nothing really lost so long as God is with us, nothing there-
fore to be despaired of. As long as we are simple, upright, fearing
God and departing from evil, placing our hope in God and not in
the prudence of the world, He has care of His servants, will turn
their calamities into blessings, and will not leave their patience
unrequited. Divine is that patience of hope which in the heaviest
as in the lightest trials looks to God, trusts to God alone, and
fills the soul with the conviction that whilst God is with us nothing
can be against us.

♦ Job i. 21-22. t Job xlii. 12.

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

It would seem needless to advance more reasons on the duty of
bearing adversities with patient resignation, because on this sub-
ject every one can be his own teacher. Who is not ready to raise
up the mind of his friend or neighbour from the depth of grief?
Who is not able to direct the mind of one saddened with affliction
to the divine help, to the unreasonableness of too much sorrow,
and to the inestimable value of patience ? He will even minister
gentle rebukes on the folly of being overwhelmed with too much
sadness. Yet when his own turn comes, he forgets the excellent
teaching that he gave to others, and will let no one soften down
his grief. Thus the words that Eliphaz babbled so unjustly to
the patient Job come home in all their truth and justice to many a
consoler: "Behold thou hast taught many, and thou hast
strengthened the weary hands : thy words have confirmed them
that were staggering, and thou hast strengthened the trembling
knees: but now the scourge has come upon thee, and thou faintest:
it hath touched thee, and thou art troubled. Where is thy fear,
thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy ways ? " •

How shall we explain this apparent inconsistency ? The fault
is not in the light of the understanding but in the resolution of
the will. Our faith, our instructions, our meditations, and our
prayer leave us in no ignorance of what we ought to do. We
know well that in every grief and trial we ought to direct our mind
and acts to God; but when we have neglected to form our interior
to habits of patience, and our will has been too much devoted to
the service of self-love, many things become difficult to endure.
So when the hour of trial comes, the will loses sight of the truth,
refuses to be patient, and casts off the law of light. The disorder
therefore is in the will ; but the cure is also in the will. Holy Job
was not patient by nature, but by the force of virtuous habits in
his will. The remedy is to waken up the will to the generous
resolution of enduring with a magnanimous spirit whatever God
ordains that we should endure with resignation and hope ; looking
to no secondary causes, but accepting the will of God as the first
and ruling cause, until it be His good pleasure to take away the
burden.

Returning for a moment to the vice of anger, it should be
thoroughly understood that all inordinate anger includes in it a

* Job iv. 3-6.

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

disposition to revenge, greater or less according to the degree of
anger, even though it be but a retort in word or feeling, and that
word or feehng be concealed in the breast. In fact, the anger that
is kept within is more wasting and consuming than the anger that
finds relief in expression. St. James has this element of vindictive-
ness in view where he says : " Let every man be slow to anger,
for the anger of man worketh not the justice of God ".* And St.
Paul is more explicit. He says : " If it be possible, as much as is
in you, have peace with all men. Not revenging yourselves, my
dearly beloved, but give place to wrath ; for it is written : Eevenge
to me ; I will repay ^ saith the Lord." t

Anger is not a movement of power, but a weak affection of
nature destructive of power, although the angry man mistakes it
for power, and at the time revels in it with a sense of satisfaction,
as if it were a triumph of strength. But that satisfaction is already
mixed with the misgivings of sadness ; unless resisted on its first
approach, nothing grows so rapidly. Hence the apostolic rule :
" Give place to wrath Yield before it, retreat from it; if needful,
and occasion offers, retreat from the occasion of it. If anger comes
upon you, says St. Ambrose, if it begins to take hold of you, give
place to it, and take your own place. Your place is in patience ;
your place is in reasonableness ; your place is in calming down
your indignation. It is no small thing to calm down anger ; it is
an act as great as if you had remained unmoved. This is nature,
that is virtue. J

But the question arises: Is there a just anger? Unques-
tionably there is a just anger, or rather a just indignation, which
belongs properly to parents, to those who are placed in authority,
and to those whose duty it is to correct and amend disorder or
vice, and especially the disorder of insubordination. And some-
times this just indignation becomes a duty that cannot be omitted
without sharing the evil that is fostered by the absence of it. But
we must carefully distinguish between vicious anger and just indig-
nation. Vicious anger springs firom passion, virtuous indignation
moves from reason; vicious anger bhnds the reason, virtuous
indignation acts in the light of justice ; vicious^anger has an evil
purpose, virtuous indignation has good for its object ; vicious

S. James i. 19-20. t Romans xii. i8-2i.
X S. Ambros. De Officiis^ c. 21.

OISI THE NATURE AND OBJECT

anger multiplies evil, virtuous indignation corrects evil; vicious
anger is moved by the malicious appetite of revenge, virtuous
indignation is moved by the zeal of vindicating the law and order
established by God. Hence the Psalmist admonishes us : " Be
angry and sin not And our Divine Lord arose in the spirit of
indignation against the Pharisees on account of the pride and
hypocrisy with which they misled the people of God from the
truth, and against the buyers and sellers who profaned the temple

But where correction requires the emotions of indignation to
give it due effect, this ought not to be allowed to go beyond just
reason and measure ; and, therefore, reflection should go before
correction. For whoever corrects another from the impulse of
inordinate anger will himself be inflamed by the vice of anger ;
he will exceed the measure of justice, and do more harm than
good. Explaining the text, " Be angry and sin not," St. Bernard
justly observes : " You may sin as much by excess of anger as by
omitting anger altogether. Not to be angry when you ought to be
angry, not to correct the disorder, is sinful ; but to be more angry
than you ought to be is to add sin to sin."t It is with a view to
keeping the just measure of anger that St. Gregory gives us this
most valuable advice : " Take great care that when you use anger
as an instrument of virtue you do not let it become your master.
Make it the obedient servant of your reason ; let it never depart
from the support of reason. It will rise with vigour against vice
when made the minister of reason."^

Reflecting in after life upon the grief and bitter anger against
which he had to struggle under harsh and inhuman treatment
during the ten years of his imprisonment, Silvio Pellico makes
the following reflections, which, as coming from experience, are
not unworthy of being here entertained :

" If I were a divine I should often insist upon the necessity ol
correcting irritability and inquietude of character; none can be
truly good without that being effected. How nobly pacific, both
with regard to Himself and others, was He whom we are all bound
to imitate! There is.no elevation of mind, no justice without
moderation in our principles and thoughts, without a" pervading

• Psalm iv. 5. t S. Bernard, Epist, 69, ad Guidonem Abbatem.
t S. Greg. Mag. in Job, L. v. c 33.

of God.

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

spirit which inclines us to smile at the events of this little life,
rather than fall into a passion with them. Anger is never produc-
tive of any good, except in the extremely rare case of being
employed to humble the wicked, even as the usurers wcra driven
by our angry Saviour from defiling His holy temple. Excitement
and violence, perhaps different altogether from what I felt, are no
less blameable. Mine was the mania of affliction and despair ; I
felt a disposition, while suffering under its horrors, to hate man-
kind. Several individuals in particular appeared to my imagina-
tion in the most revolting colours. It is a sort of moral epidemic,
I believe, springing from vanity and selfishness ; for when a man
despises and detests his fellow creatures, he necessarily assumes

that he is much better than the rest of the world It is

a curious fact that living in a state of hostility and rage actually
affords a pleasure ; it seems as if people thought there was a kind
of heroism in it . • , . Such is the world, and, without utter-
ing a libel, it is not what it ought to be.*' •

To complete this part of our subject, St. John Chrysostom has
an admirable discourse in which he demonstrates that no one can
be spiritually injured except by himself.t The only good we have
that is excellent and imperishable is our soul, and the good which
God gives to the soul. But by nothing except our own will can
the soul or its good suffer injury. So long as one possesses one's
soul in patience, no one can take any part of that good away from
us. We can only lose the good of the soul by not holding to it
with constancy, and we thus sin by losing patience. If we yield
up the will to provocation or to temptation, it slips from our con-
trol, and suffers its force to be scattered and blown away at the
word or stroke of another; and it is thus at the mercy of our
lower nature, becoming weakened, impassioned, and unreasonable.
Yet the injury and loss to the soul comes not from the provoker,
not from the tempter, not from the temptation, but from our own
want of patience, in not holding the will to a better object, that
we may endure with constancy until the trial pass away. Vexa-
tion, anger, and such like weaknesses, that give the will up to dis-
order for the time, are like mental derangement, in that they are
attended with excitement, delusion, and the clouding of reason, to

* Silvio Pellico, Le mie Prigioni^ c. 1 7.
+ S. J. Chrysost. Horn, Quod nemo Iccditur nisi a semeiipso.

32 ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

such an extent, that when calm and sober sense returns, we are
surprised and grieved to find that we have not only lost our self-
command but have committed ourselves to a great deal of folly.

But when the soul is truly patient, neither what afflicts the body
nor what assails the soul can really do us injury. On the contrary,
the soul becomes enriched with stronger virtue, and tliat fortitude
is confirmed whereby we hold to God. " For which cause," says
St. Paul, " we faint not ; but though the outward man is corrupted :
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our present
tribulation, which is momentary and light, worketh for us exceed-
ingly above measure an eternal weight of glory, while we look not
at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which
are not seen are eternal. For we know, if our earthly house of
this habitation is dissolved, that we have a building of God, a
house not made with hands, eternal in heaven." *

Every inordinate outbreak of impatience, vexation, or anger is
accompanied with sadness, and terminates in greater sadness.
Self-love is wounded, pride humiliated, vanity disappointed and
put to shame, and sadness follows, depressing the soul, enfeebling
the spirit, clouding the mind, warping the judgment, and paralyz-
ing all generous virtue. The tendency of sadness is to brood over
one*s self, and to consider one's self as an ill-used and disappointed
creature, deserving of better things. Then the fumes of melan-
choly take possession of the heart, which becomes sullen, heavy,
and bitter, and finds a miserable satisfaction in nursing the wounds
of self-love in loneliness of soul, as though God and our friends
were our adversaries. In the virulent accesses of this morbid
disorder, the sad one even imagines that this lonely isolation is a
sort of revenge upon others, as if they were the inflictors of this
bitterness, although it is only inflicted by one's own self-love and
pride.

Hence sadness is the most selfish of all selfish things, and the
very essence of sel^ eating and consuming the very heart of virtue.
The serpent coiled round its slimy self, with no other feeling but
of self, is the image of sadness. In itself, so long as it lasts, it has
neither reason, hope, charity, nor generosity. We have described
this vice in its darker degrees ; but there are many other kinds of

* 2 Corinthians iv. i6 — v. i.

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

it, which, if not so gross or offensive, are more subtle and less
observed, but which, nevertheless, become great impediments to
the freedom and generosity of the soul, especially in the perform-
ance of duty and in the exercise of prayer.

In his comment on the definition of patience given by St.
Thomas, Cardinal Cajetan gives us these pertinent remarks : " * In
your patience you shall possess your soul \ This possession con-
sists in having the undisturbed and peaceful dominion of the soul.
But it is patience that keeps away whatever disturbs this quiet
possession of one's self j and it is in this sense that St. James tells
us that * patience hath a perfect work \ But whilst cheerfulness
looks to what we love and desire, sadness looks to what we do not
like and would not have ; and what we do not like we hold in fear,
and fear is much less in our power than those delightful thoughts
that inspire cheerfulness. If, then, we take a morbid pleasure in
sadness, it becomes far more injurious to the soul than the fear of
evil. We must not forget that the virtues are connected with each
other, and that charity is patient. But as charity prefers God to
all things, it must prefer God to all those things that sadden the
soul ; and as Christian patience is caused by charity, and cannot
exist without charity, whatever we have to suffer should be en-
dured with patience for the sake of the greatest good, that is, for
the love of God, and the doing of His will." ♦

From this exposition the conclusion is obvious. Charity looks
with the cheerful eye of generous love to God as to the greatest
and most desirable good. Sadness looks with the troubled eye of
self-love to the things we dislike and would not have. Thus sad-
ness takes us from the greatest good, the good of charity, and
places us in the evil condition of cheerless and discontented self-
love, in which the soul feeds on the bitterness of self in a state of
privation and disappointment. But that this may not happen,
patience is given to charity, that by its power of endurance charity
may be protected, and the evil of sadness may be kept away from
invading the soul.

There is "a sorrow according to God," which, says St. Paul,
" worketh penance steadfast unto salvation *\t But this steadfast-
ness implies its patience. This is a sorrow that does not depress
or sadden, but it elevates the mind and brings consolation to the

* Cajetan. in Summam S. 77toma, 2. 2. q. 136. + 2 Corinthians vii. 10.

Digitized by

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

soul. It causes no loathing for prayer as the sadness of the world
does, but attracts the soul to God, and only laments those things
that separate the soul from Him. It is the fulfilment of the beati-
tude : " Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted
But that morbid sorrow or "sadness according to the world," which,
as the Apostle says, "worketh death," and to which patience is
opposed, is an animal passion that dwells in the sensual appetite.
It springs out of irascibility and from repugnance to the evils
which it fears, and is seated in the flame of anger. For the object
of sadness is always some temporary evil, real or imaginary, which
is thought to be injurious, although offensive to nothing but self-
love.

When sadness is much indulged in, there follows a contraction
of mind, a weakening of the soul's power, a dissolving of the
heart's strength, and an embittering of the spirit, which causes
restless discomfort, and brings forth indignation and melancholy.
These unhappy feelings generate impatience, discontent, despite-
fulness, sloth, and weariness of heart. A certain darkness closes
over the mind immersed in the turbid unction of self-love, so that
the soul sees not her own folly ; and although the will commonly
shrinks in its morbid entanglement from expressing the condition
of the soul, yet whenever speech is given to it, it comes out in
some way like this: "I am not at comfort with myself": or, "I
am annoyed with myself" : or, " I am vexed with myself" : or,
"I have no peace with myself": or, "I am thoroughly miser-
able Observe how all this language of sadness begins and ends
in self. Observe also how it points to the drowning of patience
in the flood of sadness. Remark again how it breathes of nothing
but wounded self-love mortifying in its own bitterness.

Very much of this sadness comes from fixing the mind on the
secondary causes of what tries or afflicts our nature, instead of
looking to the first and most beneficent cause in the will of God.
The winds of heaven, the plunderers firom the desert, and the
malignity of Satan were the secondary causes of Job's afflictions ;
but he in his patient resignation went straight to the first cause :
"The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be
the name of the Lord." The privations, trials, or sufferings that
befall us are either directed or permitted by the ordinance of God,
and that with a view to our final good. And the virtue of patience
is given us that we may be able to meet them and profit by them.

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

God knows what we stand in need of far better than we know
ourselves. Our trials are the fatherly dispositions of His provi-
dence ; and it is idle to fix our mind on human causes, when they
are ruled in the results that affect us by the one Divine Cause.
They are brought upon us for our probation, our correction, or
the expiation of our sins. They are designed to waken up in us
the nobler and more vigorous and enduring virtues. They estab-
lish the soul in discipline by the force of that patience and magna-
nimity which they demand of us. They prove our love of God
and our neighbour, by the forbearance and the endurance which
they call upon us to exert. They refine away those noxious
humours, the products of self-love and sloth, that obstruct and
impede the generous flow of spiritual life. They plant in us the
ground seed of merit, and prepare the rewards of endurance.
They make us generous in conforming our will to the will of God.
Hence the cheerful endurance of trials and sufferings is a virtue
truly sublime, reaching its heroic degrees in the martyrs and con-
fessors of God It places us in spirit with Christ upon the cross,
upon that cross which He commands us to carry after Him all
the days of this mortal life. It gives us a likeness and a lot
with Him in the great work of our salvation, which is all included
in the mystery of His cross. With the exceeding patience of His
love for us. He suffered exceedingly > and our patient endurance
of labour and suffering is the greatest proof we can give of our
love of God in Christ Jesus.

But when we come to those interior trials that touch the very
marrow of our life, we must apply these reflections in a yet more
exalted sense. We are made to enjoy God, and the soul delights
in the first fruits of the Holy Spirit. But we must be purified
before we can be sanctified ; and we must deserve God, as far as
we are able, by becoming more like to His Incarnate Son, cruci-
fied in spirit as well as in body. Those interior aridities and
desolations of spirit, those anxieties arising from unpremeditated
scruples, those unsought distractions and temptations that try the
patience of the soul, are the crucifixions of the spirit, and call
upon us for fortitude and endurance. They reveal our native
weakness, correct our self-love, sweep out pride and levity, teach
us humility, purify the soul of her vain conceits, put our fidelity
to the proof, and compel us to have recourse to the remedy of
patience. For unless we are very patient and enduring under

Digitized by

ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

these interior trials, sadness will invade the soul, will greatly
endanger her light, her freedom, and her charity, and bring her
under the dominion of the worst form of self-love, of that self-love
which murmurs and complains in its bitterness, and makes prayer
a painful and reluctant exercise.

Be it then understood and remembered that the darkness of
trial is not evil, that dryness of spirit is not sin, that confusion of
mind is not malice. They are invitations to patience, calls to re-
signation, beckonings to the healing cross, admonitions to be
humble and obedient to the will of God. Faith is asked to adhere
with patience to God in the dark ; but this is the perfection of
faith. Hope is called upon to cleave with trust to the good which,
though present, is neither sensibly felt nor seen ; but this is the
sublimity of hope. Charity asks in those hours of desolation for
the substance rather than the accidents of the love of God ; for
the pure will and desire of love without its sensibilities; for patient
conformity with Christ crucified and desolate ; for the courageous
desire of God without he reward of present delight. But this is
that strong, pure, unselfish God-seeking love, which is the more
meritorious from the absence of present delight. The test of this
brave and vigorous love is in the earnestness of its desire, and in
the patience of its resignation. Yet God is secretly present with
the soul, and whilst that suffering soul is humbled in the con-
sciousness of her infirmity, in reward for her patience she receives
a secret strength and peace, infused into the depths of her spirit,
of which she is not altogether unconscious.

We have said that desire and patience are the proofs that the
soul still adheres to God in the hour of interior trial. For she will
then enter into the spirit of the Psalmist : " Be thou, O my soul,
subject to God ; for from Him is my patience. For He is my
God, and my Saviour : He is my helper, I shall not be moved." *
But when the dark cloud breaks, and the sun of justice shines
forth anew to the thirsting soul with brighter beams than before,
she emerges from her trial more pure, luminous, and firm in virtue
by reason of her faith and patience in the day of distress. " Son,"
says the wise Ecclesiasticus, "when thou comest to the service of
God, stand in justice and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation.
Humble thy heart, and endure ; incline thy ear, and receive the

♦ Psalm Ixi. 6-7.

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

words of understanding ; and make not haste in the day ot clouds.
Wait on God with patience ; join thyself to God, and endure, that
thy life may be increased in the latter end. Take all that shall be
brought upon thee ; and in thy sorrow endure, and in thy hymi-
liation keep patience. For gold and . silver are tried in the fire,
but acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. Believe God,
and He will recover thee ; and do thou direct thy way, and trust
Him." Then, to lift us out of fear and disheartenment, the Wise
Man sets before us these high motives for our encouragement: "My
children, behold the generations of men; and know ye that no one
hath hoped in the Lord, and hath been confounded. For who
hath continued in His commandment, and hath been forsaken ?
Or who hath called upon Him, and He hath despised him ? For
God is compassionate and merciful, and will forgive sins in the
day of tribulation, and He is a protector to all who seek Him
in truth." *

But if in our interior trials we lose our patience, then we fell
into sadness, and so become weak, troubled, and discouraged.
For as by patience we adhere to God, and receive his strengthen-
ing influence, by the same patience we endure the privation of
consolation, and resist discouraging fears. But if, in the darkness
and dryness of the soul, we give way to disheartening fears, and
lose our confidence because we are deprived of comfort, then
patience gives way to impatience and discouragement, which open
the door to sadness, that greatest enemy of hope, which loosens
the bonds of charity, and leaves us in a weak and helpless
condition, a prey to mortified self-love ; for sadness brings with
it a disrelish of devotion.

Yet the remedy for sadness is prayer. " If any one of you is
sad," says St. James, " let him pray,"t But as sadness broods in
selfishness, and is inclined to rest rather in our own unhappy
thoughts than on God, the soul turns to prayer with reluctance,
and therefore in the first instance by an effort. Hence the
saddened one must first turn to God by vocal prayer, persevering
in which, that reluctance will be overcome, and so the disposition
will be recovered for the recollection of mental prayer; and, as the
sadness subsides, the spirit will enter anew into the heart of prayer.

The second remedy against sadness is to break out of it by

* Ecclesiasticus ii 1-13. t S. James v. 13.

38 ON THE NATURE AND OBJECT

some external act of kindness or generosity. For the malady
consists in a morbid concentration upon one's self, and a brood-
ing witliin one's self, that repels sympathy and kindness, as being
adverse to this melancholy mood, a mood that can only be
cherished in isolation of spirit. But let the will make a little
effort to be kind and considerate towards another, and it is
amazing how soon that malignant charm is broken that held the
soul spell-bound to her saddened thoughts and imaginary griev-
ances. A smile, a kind look, a few gentle words, a considerate
action, though begun with effort, will suffice to open the soul, and
set the spirit free from its delusion. Action, again, in the line of
duty, and from the sense of duty, will enable the soul to throw off
the morbidity with which she is encumbered ; and by the return
to more cheerful thoughts she will recover her patience.

As every virtue holds on its way between two vices that bear
some resemblance to it, the one in excess, the other in defect ;
patience holds on its way between the vice of obstinacy, as an
excess, and the vice of impatience, as a defect. Obstinacy arises
either from stupidity or pride. It looks like patience, because it
seems to hold its own, and to resist what is not its own. But
patience is reasonable, and obstinacy is unreasonable; patience
resists what is evil, and obstinacy resists what is good ; patience is
tranquil, and obstinacy is turbulent. Impatience is the vice in
defect of patience. When it rises into irritation and anger it is
often mistaken for strength, but ':he strength of the soul is in her
patience. When a man is filled with the impatience of anger
from head to foot, he will tell you that he was never more calm or
self-possessed in his life; he mistakes the equable balance of
excitement and disturbance throughout his system for calmness
and self-possession. He is possessed indeed, but possessed by an
impatience and a weakness that hurry him away from the light of
reason and the judgment of prudence into acts of folly, the
retrospect of which produces sadness.

Charity and patience form the Christian character. To love
God, and in that divine charity to love all that God loves, is to
expand the flame of life in the soul, whereby the spirit is enlarged
with the communion of eternal good, and with every kind of good.
But patience is the strength and solidity of charity, that makes
this golden virtue firm and steadfast; that keeps back the im-
petuosity of nature and its temptations firom injuring the flame of

Digitized by

OF CHRISTIAN PATIENCE,

love ; and, by its discipline, preserves the soul in serenity and
peace. The union of these two virtues into one ardour and
strength, brings the sweetness of meekness, and completes the
lucid image of Christ in the soul, making her beautiful in the
sight of our Heavenly Father.

When it is considered what a power is given by Christian
patience to creatures by nature so feeble and inconstant, we
cannot but see that its origin is divine. What a motive for
striving to bring its grace into the virtue that gives us the pos-
session of ourselves ! There is only one evil in the sight of God,
and that evil is sin. Sin arises from the impatience that will
not adhere to God, and keep the will steadfast to His law and
commandments. But it is the nature of Christian patience to rest
on God, and to hold with firm tenacity to whatever He enjoins.
Whatever else are called evils, such as temporal privations, trials
and sufferings, are so izx from being evils to the patient soul, that
in this present providence they are in the order of good. They
are evils to those impatient souls that make them the occasions of
sin ; but those patient ones derive their power from God to trans-
form the sense of these evils into virtues that enrich the soul, and
bring her to her Eternal Good.

The restoration of man to God should therefore bring him
back to that patience, through the loss of which he ceased to
abide in God and in His will But that restoration is accom-
plished through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who exhibited,
both to His Father and to men, the perfection of humility and
patience from the beginning to the ending of His mortal life.
The Father gave His patience to the Son, and with that divine
patience the Son overcame all His enemies and ours ; and gave
that patience to us, that by its help we may master our weakness,
and overcome in every hostile encounter. For, in the words of
St. Leo : " The Passion of the Lord continues still, and even to
the end of the world. As He is loved in His Saints, and is fed
and clothed in His poor; so He endures in those who su£fer
patiently for justice' sake."*

Wherefore the great Apostle sets patience before us as the
power that resists the entrance of sin, and exhorts us in the
vehemence of the Holy Spirit, to keep the patience of Christ

• S. Leo, Serm, Ult De Passione Domini,

Digitized by

40 NA TUREAND OBJECT OF CHRISTIAN PA TIENCE.

before us in all its exercise. He says to the Hebrews : " Laying
aside every weight and sin that surrounds us, let us run by
patience to the fight proposed to us : looking upon Jesus, the
author and finisher of faith, who, having joy set before Him,
endured the Cross, despising the shame, and now sitteth at the
right hand of the throne of God. For think diligently on Him
that endured such contradiction firom sinners against Himself :
that you be not weary, fainting in your minds. For you have not
yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." * And, to show the
great value of trials for perfecting patience, and how intimately
patience is bound up with charity, the Apostle says again : " We
glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh
patience : and patience probation : and probation hope. And
hope confoundeth not ; because the charity of God is poured
forth in our hearts, through the Holy Ghost, who is given to

us."t

* Hebrews xil 1-4. 'l* Romans v. 3.5.

LECTURE III.

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE.

*• In all things let ns exhibit ourselves in much patience." — 2 Corinthians
vi. 4.

/^WING to the habit of thinking of the virtues individually

V->/ and separately, and to the method of thus treating of them
in books, we are too much disposed to lose sight of their close con-
nection with each other, and of the way in which they act, not only
with each other, but within each other. The distinctions between
them have their foundations in their objects, and to understand
these distinctions is a valuable and useful instruction. But that
knowledge is equally valuable and instructive which enables us
to understand how they act in union and mutual co-operation,
giving animation, support, vigour, or protection to one another.
One colour cannot make a picture, nor one virtue a saint ; many
colours unite and blend their shades to form a beautiful work of
art, and many virtues unite and blend together in happy mixtures
to make a beautiful soul.

As all the virtues have their seat in the will, and there unite,
they flow into each other, help each other mutually, and are most
perfect when most united. But this connection and co-opera-
tion is much more intimate in the Christian tlian in the natural
virtues, because they have their origin in the divine principle of
grace, converge proportionately to their perfection to one final
end, and are all animated by one and the same life of charity.
All the Christian virtues live in the light of faith, all look to hope,
all obtain their life from the love of God. They are founded in
humility, ruled by justice, guided by prudence, sustained by
fortitude, preserved by temperance, strengthened and protected
by patience. Christian fortitude is a profounder degree of Chris-

42 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE.

tian patience. It is a gift of the Holy Ghost, and patience is in-
cluded in it as the less in the greater.

Whilst each virtue has its own object, certain virtues are called
universal, because, besides their own special object, they enter
into every other virtue, and assist every other virtue in obtaining
its object. Of these, next to charity, patience is the most impor-
tant ; for, to recall the words of St. Zeno, " all things look to
patience". Neither faith, hope, charity, nor justice — neither humility
nor charity nor any other virtue can hold together, or keep on its
way, without the nerve, restraint, and discipline of patience.
Hence it has been called the virtue of the virtues, as giving to
them all their strength, stability, and perseverance. It has also
been called the chief part of virtue, as being the abiding force that
carries them through their difficulties. If you ask the reason, you
will find it in the weakness, irritability, and inconstancy of our
nature, rendered so much more infirm through its fall and sin.
But this requires a large explanation, which will help us to know
ourselves and to understand what help we require to make us
constant and peaceful.

If we examine the whole of the virtues, we shall find them
divisible into two kinds according to the work that they do for
the soul. One of these 4inds seeks to reach good, the other
removes the obstacles that prevent us from seeking good. Of
the kind that directly seeks good are faith, hope, charity, justice,
and religion ; of the kind that removes the obstacles to good are
humility, temperance, self-denial, and repentance. But patience,
which, as St. Zeno remarks, " is less in multiplying than in per-
fecting the virtues," belongs to both kinds of virtue. It comes
with charity, derives the fire of its energy from the charity of the
Holy Ghost, and gives it perfection. On that part it causes the
will to adhere to God with constancy, and sustains the other
virtues that directly seek God ; for they work perfectly in propor-
tion as they work patiently. But it has another work, a work of
which we are more conscious, in strengthening those virtues that
resist evil and all that disturbs the peace and self-possession of the
soul. Whilst, therefore, patience is conservative of the virtues
that seek good, it is the strength and stay of those virtues that
remove the obstacles to good. It is for this reason that St
Gregory calls it the root and guardian of the virtues, and that St
Cyprian teaches that it is both the expeller of evil and the keeper

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE, 43

of good. This brings us back to St. Augustine's definition of the
virtue, that by patience we cheerfully endure evils with an equable
mind, that we may not, through an evil disposition, desert that
good which brings us to our greatest good.

A soul given to impatience loses strength from every virtue and
weakens her hold of all that is good ; she has not the spiritual
nerve to hold herself together ; for in the impatient soul there is a
restlessness, a wavering, a want of spiritual fibre, a swerving from
good intention, and a want of steadfastness in action that disturbs
the soul and undermines the most virtuous resolutions.

Any change that passes in the sense and feeling of such a
person — a little restlessness in the nerves, a little weariness of
mind, a little trouble in the affections — will disturb her slender
patience, lower the tone of her virtue, and even change her
intentions. Almost any change in outward circumstances — an
alteration in the weather, a piece of bad news, a sharp word, or
some little interference with what one is doing, however well
intended — will be sufficient to alter the dispositions of the heart
and change the current and colour of one's thoughts, as the
impatient soul vibrates from one thing to another, and rushes in
desire from the present duty to something that the imagination
represents as more congenial. With the growth of impatience
comes the disinclination to dwell on those divine and unchange-
able truths which agree not with the spirit of restless change, and
a yet greater disinclination to hold to those divine motives that
invite us to constancy and lead us to act with a view to our
spiritual good ; for our impatience engages us with the sense of our
own discomfort, dissipates the spirit of recollection, and scatters
the power of attention, to the great damage of all stability of
purpose.

Think of the unregenerated condition of the mortal body, with
its flame of concupiscence lusting against the spirit, its restless
sensibilities, its petulant appetites, its disorderly movements, its
reluctance to be brought under subjection to the law of the spirit,
its ever-changing irritabilities, and those crooked instincts of evil
that through the imagination move upon the soul, all tending to
trouble her peace, and to overthrow the virtues. Unless patience
be there to resist and withstand the inflowings of irritation, curio-
sity, and cupidity, it is impossible for the soul to preserve her own
proper good, or to secure its augmentation ; for every virtue and

44 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE.

the good of every virtue is open to temptation and loss through
yielding to the restless irritability of our mortal frame. Even
those who have obtained a calm external demeanour for social pur-
poses by artificial training are not thereby delivered in any degree
from their internal disturbances.

Then in the soul herself there is that terrible disorder of self-
love, giving birth to pride and vanity, those fearful irritators,
weakeners, and dividers of the soul, that interfere so much with the
advancing movements of all the virtues, and give rise to such an
amount of impatience and disturbance, and, being in close league
with the animal senses, leave nothing in its right place, nothing in
its just union with its proper good and strength, nothing in en-
during peace.

The good of the soul is spiritual like herself but immeasurably
greater than herself. It is the littleness of self-love that makes
her impatient of a good so much greater than self-love can aim
at, or anything short of charity can aspire to. To reach that good
requires a most patient co-operation with the grace of charity.
But the disinclination that makes the soul slow and reluctant to
seek that spiritual good, reveals the feverish impatience of her
greater good with which she is afflicted.

In a perfect spirit thought and will must act in perfect unison,
the thought one with the truth, and the will one with the justice
contained in that truth. The will must at once reject the evil
which truth reveals to the thought. And all the powers of the
soul, with the virtues that belong to them, must act in perfect accord
with the light in the mind and the justice in the will. This
implies a perfect union of the soul with God, to the complete
annihilation of inordinate self-love ; and a state of stability in that
union, which neither moves from the light of God, nor wavers
from the love of God. This stability is the perfect patience of
charity. Change that patience into impatience, and the unity of
that soul with God, and through God with herself will be shaken
and impaired, if not altogether lost.

In the degree in which the soul loses her union with God she
glides off from the divine basis of her strength, and there arises
division within herself. In consequence of that division her
spiritual acts become feeble, wavering, and impatient. The will is
often at discord with the mind, and the mind with the truth.
Good intentions fail for want of resolution, and feeble acts falter

Digitized by

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE, 45

after wavering intentions, and these are soon lost sight of for want
of the patience that gives them perseverance. Conscience and
conduct are often at disagreement from want of that strength and
stability of will which faithfully follows the inspirations of conscience.
Such is the fallen man, weakened in all his spiritual joints and
sinews through the wasting disease of impatience.

" Man alone is headstrong," says St. Zeno, " alone impatient,
taking his daily pleasure in his disorderly emotions. He is given
to change. He thinks it a misery to be himself. He is unwilling
to see that when he keeps not himself in his just and proper state,
he subjects himself to a derangement that is not unlike to lunacy.
What is this impatience but a slippery condition of mind, in which
the soul acts with hasty and frequent perturbations against her
own well-being ? Her actions are unstable, incautious, blind, and
improvident ; and she excites herself to her own undoing. Im-
patience is a thing without substance, a busy failure divested of
personal dignity, putting everything in a state of trouble, disturbing
all things in an instant. Impatience is the mother of sin, the
nurse of curiosity, the goad to rashness, the author of detestable
evils. The death that strangled human salvation burst forth from
impatience in the beginning of the world." *

If there is truth in this description of mankind when living in
quiet times, how much more applicable is that truth to the un-
quiet times in which we are living. All the present conditions of
life seem to combine in making men restless and unstable. It
looks as if we had fallen upon those latter times predicted by the
Prophet Daniel, when " many shall pass to and fro, and knowledge
shall be manifold ".f Whatever have been the benefits resulting
from the investigations, speculations, and inventions of our times,
they have had the effect of producing a moral intoxication on the
minds of men, that has turned them away from the pursuit of
divine and eternal things, and has changed the tranquil habits
of our fathers into habits of restlessness and the love of perpetual
movement. Most men have become eager for novelty and change,
and they live so much outside themselves as to neglect or even
abandon the interior good of their souls. The tree of the know-
ledge of good and evil has been shaken for its fruits, and if the
knowledge of good has fallen to those who are inclined to good,

* S. Zeno, De Patientia^ c. 3.

t Daniel xii. 4.

46 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE.

the knowledge of evil has fallen in great abundance to those who
are inclined to evil. We live in the midst of a restless, impatient,
and fevered life, that more than ever demands for our security
patience of will and stability of mind.

We have not yet completed the account of the fever of impa-
tience. A great number even of persons desirinej the better things
are habitual sufferers from a low, malingering, and silent form of
the malady ; because, ignorant of themselves, they are unable to
perceive how their want of interior patience deprives their virtues
of their vigour, and undermines their spiritual health. They feel
that something keeps them back from advancing to more solid
virtue, but they see not that it is their want of patience with them-
selves, and with what they are engaged upon, that distracts the
mind, dissipates the heart, and makes the soul inconstant in her
purposes. They have never disciplined their will, that central
power of the soul, in that fundamental patience which gives a firm
and assured basis to all the acts of our life. They have not
realized to themselves the sense of the Psalmist, when, conscious
of his natural weakness, he exhorts himself : " Be thou, O my soul,
subject to God, for from Him is my patience". " There is some-
thing so singular in this virtue," observes the learned and contem-
plative Harphius, that even those who seem to have the other
virtues are often devoid of patience." * They are not only devoid
of interior and spiritual patience, but they have no idea what an
immense defect it is, or how much their interior impatience is the
cause of their inward troubles, and the obstacle to their interior
advancement.

" Patience is of God," sa)rs St. Cyprian, " and whoever is gentle,
mild, and patient, is an imitator of God. ... If the patience
of God the Father abide in us, who are repaired by the Divine
Nativity, if we have that likeness of God in us that was lost in
Adam, it ought to shine from our interior outwards, and become
manifest in our actions." f

What we have thus far endeavoured to say on this virtue as the
groundwork of the other virtues has been most happily expressed
by the reigning Pontiff Leo XIII. In his Encyclical Letter on the
Third Order of St. Francis, the Successor of Peter teaches us in
these words : " The perfection of Christian virtue is a disposition

• Harphius, Theologia Mystica^ L. i. pt. 2. c. 72,
t S. Cyprian. De Bono PalientuB^ c 5.

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE. 47

of soul that is patient of all that is arduous and difficult. Its sym-
bol is the Cross, which those who follow Christ bear on their
shoulders. What belongs to this disposition is a soul detached
from mortal things, a vigorous self-control, and a gentle and re-
signed endurance of adversity. Finally, the love of God and of
our neighbour is the mistress and sovereign of the soul ; such is
its power, that it wipes away all the hardships that accompany the
fulfilment of duty, and makes the hardest labours not only endur-
able but actually pleasant.**

Whenever the will separates from the foundation of its strength
by departing from God, the instruments of the will, be it the
mind, the hand, or the tongue, lose their patience, and in losing
their patience lose their wisdom and skill. The thoughts wander
from their purpose, the imagination seduces and carries away
attention, the hands relax in their work, the tongue becomes im-
prud.ent, the sense of duty is enfeebled, and duty itself lingers on
its way, or is imperfectly done. The workman suffers as well as
the work, because impatience is trouble, and has an element of
sadness in it As it is obvious that all the virtues and the whole
condition of the soul are enfeebled by the fever of impatience, it
must be equally obvious that the whole soul is strengthened and
made healthy by the discipline of patience. Hence the old
French proverb, that patience surpasses science. But this is the
last virtue obtained in its perfection, because human nature is so
weak and inconstant, and the acquiring of this virtue is laborious.
But when it has reached a certain perfection, it secures to the soul
a cheerful serenity and sweetness, and a constant peace.

Viewed as a universal virtue, St. Cyprian describes it in the fol-
lowing terms: "Patience commends us to God, and keeps us
united with God. By its force we keep down anger, control the
tongue, govern the mind, and guard the peace of the soul. By
the same virtue we govern ourselves with discipline, break down
the assaults of concupiscence, repress the swellings of pride, and
extinguish the heat of malice. It restrains the wealthy from abus-
ing their power, and supports the poor in their wants and distress.
It protects the blessed integrity of virgins, the laborious chastity
of widows, and the mutual charity of married life. It makes the
soul humble in prosperity, strong in adversity, and meek under
injuries and calumnies. It teaches us to be quick in pardoning
offences ; and when we have offended, to ask much and long for

48 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE,

pardon. It repels temptations, endures persecutions, and brings
to sufferings and martyrdom a happy consummation. Patience
gives strong and firm foundations to our faith : patience exalts
our hope to a sublime degree of confidence : patience enables us
to follow in the steps of Christ, and walk after Him in the way of
endurance : it gives us the perseverance of the children of God
whilst we imitate the patience of our Heavenly Father." •

To put the subject in its widest point of view, all the appetites
and passions of our nature are good when in their just order, their
right measure, their due direction, and in true accord with the light
of reason and of faith. But they become disorderly, incline us to
evil, and become evil themselves, when through inordinate irrita-
bility, which is the result of weakness, they spring up in a disorderly
way, and lead us into disorder. As St. Thomas teaches from St.
Paul, what is irritable or irascible in our nature has its root in con-
cupiscence, or in the passionate desires of our animal appetites, and
ends in them. Whence it follows that patience grounded in forti-
tude is the proper remedy for all inordinate passions and appetites.
And this reminds us of the teaching of so many of the early Fathers,
that if Adam had kept his patience he would not have lost his inno-
cence. You see impatience in the sensitive feebleness of childhood,
in the restlessness of youth, in the instability of manhood, and in
the returning feebleness of age. But you never see it in the saints,
because they have laboriously disciplined themselves in patience,
and have obtained the cheerful possession of themselves.

Some persons are by nature and the temperament of their con-
stitution more choleric and irascible than others. This tempera-
ment is compounded of two elements, sanguine ardour and irasci-
bility. But when this irascibility has been brought by laborious
self-discipline under the rule of patience, the ardour of it is most
valuable when in its right direction, both for the overcoming, of
difficulties, and for the undertaking of good works. And thus it
is with every force of human nature : deliver it from the disturb-
ing influence of impatience, place it under the discipline of
patience, and it will work in good order and to the best effect of
which it is capable.

Not only does the invigorating and steadying virtue of patience
proceed from charity, but it perfects charity. "Charity is patient.*'

* S. Cyprian. De Bono Paiientia^ c. 20.

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE. 49

In the words ascribed to St. Dionysius the Areopagite: *'That
love of God which first moves the soul towards divine things is a
most sacred and unspeakable operation, whereby a divine state
is established in us This divine state is the work of the Holy
Spirit dwelling in the soul, and, as St. Paul shows, the grace of
charity brings with it the grace of patience. But charity is the
life-giving form of all the virtues. First, it is the divine principle
of their supernatural life. Secondly, it gives to them their super-
natural value, and the condign merit of eternal life. Thirdly,
charity communicates to them that high moral good from which
they obtain their perfection.f

But let the reader specially take note, that grace is one thing
and virtue another. Grace is the divine gift ; virtue results from
the co-operation of the will with the divine gift. But as there is
so much more to overcome, and consequently so much more
labour of the will in the exercise of patience than in the exercise
of any other virtue, that is the reason why there are so few who
reach the more perfect degrees of patience. Having never experi-
enced the wonderful strength and peace which the fundamental
virtue of patience gives to the soul, or the clearness and vigour
which it gives to her interior acts, they have never realized the
extreme importance of striving to obtain it at whatever cost. Yet
it is by patience that charity is perfected ; and this was manifested!
in our Lord Jesus Christ, whose divine charity was so wonder-
fully patient, and who consummated His love of His Father and
of mankind by His most patient sufferings. St. Bonaventure
justly remarks that to suffer and endure with patience for the love
of God is a much greater thing than to do great works for the love
of God. But in this pious souls are often at fault: they will
attach this principle to external sufferings, and will not see that it
applies with even greater truth to internal and spiritual sufferings.
Yet our Divine Lord suffered much greater things in His soul
than in His body.

There is a sentence of St. Maximus which every good Christian
should carry in his mind : " The sum of Christianity is to give love
for love, and patience for suffering; whoever is most patient under
suflfering will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven ".J But it

* S. Dionysius, De Eccles, Hierarchia^ c. 2.
t Ripalda, D$ Fide^ Sped Chariiate, dispuU 39.
X S. Maximus, Horn, De S. Michaele.
4

50 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE.

should be equally remembered that spiritual sufferings are far
greater than corporal sufferings. And here a remark of the learned
and pious Cajetan will not be out of place. Commenting on the
first of the Beatitudes : " Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven " ; and also on the last : " Blessed are
they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven " ; after pointing out that the poor in spirit are
the humble, he says : " By the word persecution you must under-
stand every kind of pain and suffering. You see then that one
and the same reward is given to those who act patiently (the poor
in spirit), and to those who suffer patiently, provided they per-
severe to the end. They both obtain the kingdom of heaven, and
it is theirs already, although they have not yet come into their
possession." In short, the reward of heaven, so magnificently
described in the Book of Revelations, is there repeatedly promised
by our Lord to those who by patience conquer their adversaries by
overcoming themselves.

The intimate relations of patience with charity have never been
expressed with greater force and beauty than in the parable dictated
by St. Catherine of Siena whilst in a state of ecstasy. It occurs in
her dialogue on discretion, and we shall here give it in a free trans-
lation. Be it first however observed that St. Catherine uses the
word discretion in the sense of spiritual recollection, in which we
obtain perception of the relative value of divine and human
things. In this sense of the word she follows that illustrious
Doctor of her Order, Albert the Great, who thus describes it:
"True discretion is to judge prudently between the Creator and
the creature, between what the Creator is and what the creature is,
and in how much the Creator differs from the creature. It like-
wise judges between what is good, what is better, and what is best;
and also between what is evil, what is more evil, and what is most
evil ; whilst it decides how much the good is to be loved, and the
evil to be detested.*'*

The just man is compared in the Psalm to a tree planted by
the waters, whose fiiiits do not fail. If you plant a tree within a
circle of fertile earth, the earth will nourish the tree and make it
fruitful. But if you take it up from the circle in which it is
planted, it will die and produce nothing. The soul is a tree
made to be firuitful in love : it can only live in charity. The

• Albertus Magnus, De Viriulibus^ c De Discretione,

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE, 51

roots of that tree are the affections of the soul, which should be
planted within the circle of self-knowledge, of that self-knowledge
which is united to God by humility. But God is likened to the
circle in this, that He has neither beginning nor ending. And
the soul that is planted in the earth of humility, and is united
with God, finds herself within that divine circle, within which she
obtains the knowledge of God and of herself. If the soul be thus
united with God, she will find that her knowledge, like that circle,
has neither beginning nor ending. But if the soul is not united
with God, though she may have a beginning of knowledge, it will
end in confusion.

In the measure in which the tree of charity is nourished by
humility, it will put forth the branches of discretion ; but the pith
and marrow of the tree is patience; and this patience is the
demonstrative proof that God is in the soul, and that the soul is
united with God. Thus sweetly planted, the tree will put forth
the virtues as its flowers, and will produce such fruits as will be
profitable to our neighbours, such at least as are willing to accept
them from the servants of God. The soul herself will praise God,
who is the Creator of the tree and its fruits, and will come to
her final end in the everlasting God, from whom, without her
consent, she never can be removed. But the fruits hang on the
boughs of discretion by the force of patience, from which they
derive their excellence.*

Food is not more essential to strength of body than patience is
to strength of soul ; and God in His goodness makes us conscious
of our weakness, that we may be induced to seek the means of
strength. What God loves and approves in us is the cheerful and
loving patience that we put into our duties, because that is the
spirit of charity, and expresses the amount of charity with which
we serve Him. Every new restraint that we put upon the hurry
and impetuosity of our excitable nature is a reduction to order, a
power gained, a weakness removed, a further subjection of nature
to grace, a step in the way of peace, that makes us less unlike to

We read much of the self-denial and self-mortification of the
Saints ; we know how effective this is in purifying nature, and in
subjecting the body to the spirit and the spirit to God, so long as

God.

* S. Caterina da Siena* TraU De Discretione^ c 10.

52 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE,

it is under the safeguard of obedience. We know that self-denial
is enjoined by our Divine Lord upon all His followers, and that
without self-denial there can be no solid virtue, because it directly
attacks self-love, which is the source of all evil. " And He said
to all : If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and
take up his cross daily, and follow Me."* Whoever, again, is
acquainted with those schools of sanctity, the Religious Orders,
will not have failed to observe, that where the spirit of the founder
is duly observed, cheerfulness and spiritual joy are always in pro-
portion with the amount of self-abnegation and austerity enjoined
by the Rule. This fact opens a great light to us, and shows that
the secret of cheerfulness and content is in the freedom of spirit
obtained by the conquest of the body. It must be so, because
the sacrifice of self to God invigorates the will, makes the soul
patient and healthy, and quells that sensual self-love which is the
source of impatience and sadness, changing it into the generous
love of God.

But when we come to that interior and spiritual mortification
to which exterior self-denial is subservient, we shall find, upon
careful examination, that it is all reducible to patience. Take the
mortification of inordinate curiosity for an example. This is a
vice that is very injurious both to self-control and to recollection,
and opens the door to many temptations. It leads the mind
away in search of distracting and dissipating novelties. It peeps
into other people's conduct and affairs, with which the soul has no
concern. It will even pry into error and vice, and long to taste
the evil that is in them. This evil not only dissipates the mind,
but breeds many rash judgments, and lays open the heart to many
temptations. But it is patience that withholds the mind firom
curiosity, and mortifies this inordinate vice to death.

Take the mortification of the interior sensibilities for another
example. These sensibilities produce the affections, which when
directed to their right objects influence the will to good, but when
directed to wrong objects influence the will towards evil or dis-
order. Their lawful use is to attach the soul with love and
pleasure to what is good for us, and to withdraw the soul with
dislike and abhorrence from what is evil or injurious to our well-
being. But it is by patience that the will withholds the sensible

• S. Luke ix, 23.

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE. S3

affections of the soul from mingling with the disorderly movements
of the body, or the inordinate movements of self-love; and so the
soul is kept back from entering into the disorders of the irascible
passions on the one hand, and from entering into the inordinate
movements of the sensual appetites on the other. Thus the true
mortification of the interior affections of the soul is reducible to
that patience which, whilst adhering to God, refuses to surrender
the will to the sensibilities, passions, and sensualities of the animal
man, that, when followed, lead to confusion and spiritual death.
St. Paul points to this internal discipline where he says : " If you
live according to the flesh, you shall die. But if by the spirit you
mortify the deeds of the flesh, you shall live." * But " the deeds
of the flesh " are not merely its external acts, but much more
those internal sensibilities, irritabilities, and sensualities that spring
from the body, and which St. Paul calls " the spirit of the flesh
When any part of the body mortifies, the arteries no longer bring
to it the life-giving blood, the veins no longer take from it what is
injurious to life. But spiritual mortification acts on the side of
life ; it is an act of the patient will refusing entrance into the soul
to whatever obstructs the freedom and flow of spiritual life.

Having put the interior process by which the soul is disciplined
into patience in various points of view to assist the reader in
understanding it, we will now resume what has been stated in one
comprehensive view.

If you are placed within a fortress founded upon a rock, within
that stronghold you will feel secure from the enemies who seek to
injure or destroy your life. The walls and the rock hold together,
and resist all efforts to break through or undermine them. What
is the secret of the strength and security which they give you ?
It consists in that invisible and mysterious power which is called
the attraction of cohesion, whereby all the parts hold together,
and the whole is made firm and inaccessible. But if your adver-
saries have an accomplice within the fortress, it is still in danger
of being betrayed and surrendered. The soul is a living, free, and
most ^^sensitive spirit, having the will for its central power. The
fortress which protects the soul from her enemies is patience. It
rests upon God as the rock of its strength, and is fenced round as
by a wall from the invasion of its enemies. The secret of the

• Romans viii. 13,

54 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE.

strength of this fortress is in the spiritual cohesion by which all
the powers of the soul hold together, through the patience of the
will, and are thus enabled to resist the efforts of the enemies of
the soul from entering within its defences, and there spreading dis-
order, confusion, and desolation.

But if the will becomes relaxed and careless, all the powers that
dei^nd on the will become loose and negligent, and the adver-
saries of the soul find their accomplice, whose name is impatience,
within the stronghold, the fortress is betrayed, and all sorts of
trouble and disorder make their way within the soul, the will and
its powers are driven from one disorder to another, and the soul
herself becomes a pitiable spectacle to God and His angels.
But, to use the figure of the Psalmist, God is the firm rock and
fortress of the soul, and when the will adheres to God, His truth
surrounds her as a shield ; and His grace pours in its strength,
enabling the will to hold her powers together, and to resist by
their cohesion all the efforts of temptation, and every disorder
that would trouble the peace of the soul or do injury to her life.

What we have here endeavoured to put in figure is to illustrate
the truth, that we become strong to resist temptation, to endure
trials, and to keep ourselves above the wasting influence of sad-
ness, in proportion to the firmness with which the soul adheres by
her centre to God, as the supreme and central foundation of her
life ; by which adherence her powers are kept in unity, and in
obedience to the will obedient to God. The will, or central
power of the soul, should never be thrown off firom its own true
centre, but should be patiently held to its divine support, so that
the soul may never go off from her foundation or lose her balance :
" The Lord is my firmament, my refiige, and my deliverer •

This is what St. Catherine of Siena means, when, in her inspired
wisdom, and from her own example, she advises us to form a
little cell by recollection in the centre of the soul, protected by
patience as by walls, into which the spirit of God, His light and
grace alone shall enter \ a little sanctuary into which the world
and its cares shall never enter ; a centre of peace into which no
trouble shall be allowed to come. So that when troubles come,
that come to all, they may be kept by the intervention of patience
outside of that secret sanctuary of the soul, and never be allowed

• Psalm xvii. 3.

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE. 55

to come between the soul and God. If they are allowed entrance
into the soul they will confuse the vision, and disturb the will,
which will not know how to deal with them. But if kept outside
the soul, they will have no power to disturb either her judgment
or her peace. She will see through them after a time, and will
know how to deal with them. This is one of the most important
rules for the patient management of the will

Whilst the soul is able by her fundamental patience to keep a
calm and recollected centre, she will be able to use her faculties
and put them forth with tranquil energy from that calm and re-
collected and immovable centre, in their due order, towards their
work, as duty, obedience, and the will of God require. An im-
mense amount of fatigue and trouble will be saved, for nothing
fatigues so much as the interior disturbance resulting from disorder
and the want of central calmness. We are now in a position to better
understand the words of our Divine Lord : " In your patience
you shall possess your souls But if we throw out the very centre
of the soul upon the creature, and thus part with our interior union
with God, we shall become nothing but weakness and disorder.

Extreme cases best illustrate intermediate ones. Observe two
persons in a high state of quarrelling. Both have lost their self-
control. Whatever is within them is thrown out in a flame of
passion. Their judgment is gone with their self-command ; and
you see all round and through them, a pitiable spectacle of human
weakness, driven by animal instincts, ungovemed by the light of
reason. The whole centre of the man is thrown out, and there is
nothing reserved within him by which he can control himself.
Observe another example, in which one is the victim of uncon-
trollable passion, and the other in full possession of himself, de-
rived from patience and endurance. You have here the whole
contrast between moral strength and moral weakness ; strength
prevails and weakness is put to shame.

Take the case of one, who, devoid of that central patience and
strength, finds himself suddenly involved in some complicated
trouble, in which both persons and affairs are concerned. The
trouble gets inside of him, takes hold of his feelings, confuses his
faculties, and clouds his judgment, which is too much embarrassed
to help him through his difficulty. If he is at all wise he will
seek the counsel of a prudent and experienced friend. Take another
who possesses his soul in patience. He will keep his trouble out*

56 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE,

side his soul, hold it at due distance, which will give him a calm,
objective view of it, and after a time he will see his way through
it, and know what to do with it.

Whilst, then, the primary object of patience is to keep the centre
of the soul recollected and protected in its recollection, the
second is to govern the exterior life from that recollected centre,
whether in action, speech, or demeanour, so that the strength,
calmness, and moderation of the soul may shine out in our exterior
conduct, in a way that may commit us to nothing but what is
peaceful and edifying. The remoter objects of patience are the
evils, trials, temptations, and disturbing influences that come
against us without our will or choice. Upon these we can impress
no image of virtue, because they are not within us, they form
no part of us, but are altogether independent of us. But if we
suffer these outward causes of trial to enter into us and take pos-
session of us, they break down the strength of patience, throw us
into disorder, and defile us with their vices. But if these evils are
kept outside of the soul, when they cannot be removed, they must
be endured, with the consoling reflection that the endurance of
them will strengthen and increase our virtue, and prepare us for
the rewards of endurance.

But, as we have already observed, the effect of patient endur-
ance is not to make us hard and insensible to trials and sufferings.
This would defeat the beneficent designs of God in allowing them
for our probation and greater virtue. "Some think," observes
St. Gregory, " that it is a sign of great constancy not to feel the
scourges and sufferings that come upon us from the correcting
hand of God ; others feel those trials to such an excess as to
indulge in grief and sadness beyond all right and reason, and give a
murmuring tongue to their pains. But the true virtue of patience
holds the midway between these extremes ; for insensibility of
heart gives no weight to virtue. And when a man feels no sense of
pain from the trials that God sends him, it only proves his incorrigible
stupidity and numbness of heart. When, on the contrary, under
the rod of trial and rebuke he gives himself to excessive grief and
sadness, he throws away that patience which guards the virtues ;
and whilst his heart suffers to excess, he breaks into impatience,
and perhaps into injuries, and, instead of being amended by his
troubles, he gives himself to worse evils on account of them."*

* S. Greg. Mag. Moral, in Job^ L. ii. c l6.

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE,

There is also an impatience with one's self; and who is not
acquainted with that infirmity? It may have its beginning in
some venial fault or error into which we have slipped or glided
with no great deliberation. But the failure has wounded our self-
love, and produced an interior annoyance and vexation, which is
far worse than the original fault. Like throwing away the medi-
cine when the disease appears, patience is given up at the very
moment when wanted to cure the infirmity. Had we taken to
that steadying virtue at once, the mischief would have been stayed;
but the shame and humiliation of failure is allowed to disturb the
heart, to discomfort the soul, and to bring on a certain sadness
that goes firom one act of interior impatience to another, doing
more harm than a hundred of those faults from which this disorder
is allowed to rise. Yet, as St Bonaventure tells you, "patience
would have purged the sin, and would have saved you from it in
future " Charity is patient," and patient charity covers a multi-
tude of sins. The Church proclaims this in the tribunal of penance,
that not only the works of charity but the endurances of patience
are satisfactory for sin. The priest says to the penitent : " May
whatsoever good thou dost, and whatsoever evil thou endurest, be
to the remission of thy sins and the reward of eternal life We
may well say with St. Gregory, that " patience is the cure of every
grief". Delay not the cure, or the grief will turn to sadness.
Take hold of patience, or the one feult will bring you others that
are greater in its train.

It remains to show how this strenuous virtue is the fundamental
principle that gives power to the Beatitudes. The poor in spirit
are the humble. They know they have nothing of their own but
their weakness and sins, and that they are dependent on God for
all things. They therefore hold themselves in subjection to God,
and keep themselves with patience in their lowly position. The
meek are those whose patience has made them gentle and forbear-
ing in the sweetness of charity, and who possess the land of their
soul in peace. The holy mourners whom God comforts are they
who in patience lament before God, and do penance for the evils
whereby He is offended, and who patiently persevere in their
supplications for the removal of evil

They who hunger and thirst after justice must patiently mortify
their sensual appetites and selfish desires, that their spiritual ap-
petite may be filled with good things. The merciful cannot be

Digitized by

58 ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE.

merciful unless their patience restrain them from anger and selfish-
ness, that their charity may flow forth in pardon and generosity.
The blessed peacemakers are they who possess their own souls in
peace. And they who suffer persecution for justice' sake are they
who bear and endure whatever is inflicted upon them for the love
of God, for whose holy cause they stand. Then, to crown the
exposition of the Beatitudes, our Divine Lord calls upon His
followers to rejoice in suffering for His sake because of its exceed-
ing reward " Blessed are ye when they shall revile you, and
persecute you, and speak all that is evil against you, untruly for
my sake : Be glad and rejoice, for your reward is very great in
heaven."* Truly patience is golden, and patient suffering in
devoted charity is a pure diamond.

One good example is worth a thousand when taken to heart,
and we will therefore conclude with an example of the power of
patience in illustration of what has been said from the life of St.
Francis Xavier, as given in the nervous language of Dryden.

"When St. Francis brought the Gospel into Japan, on the first
occasion on which it was heard in the city of Amanguchi, the Saint
and his companion, John Fernandez, met with great opposition,
especially among the Bonzas ; when an action of Xavier's com-
panion did not a little contribute to the gaining over of the most
stubborn. Fernandez preached in one of the most frequented
places of the town ; and amongst the crowd of auditors were some
persons of great wit, strongly opinioned of their sect, who could
not conceive the maxims of the Gospel, and who heard the
preacher with no other intention than to make sport of him.
In the midst of the sermon, a man, who was of the scum of the
rabble, drew near to Fernandez, as if he were to whisper some-
thing to him, and hawking up a mass of nastiness, spit it full in
his face. Fernandez, without a word speaking, or making the
least sign that he was concerned, took his handkerchief, wiped his
face, and continued his discourse.

"Everyone was surprised at the moderation of the preacher: the
more debauched, who had set up a laugh at this affront, turned all
their scorn into admiration, and sincerely acknowledged that a
man who was so much master of his passions as to command them
on such an occasion, must needs be endued with greatness of

* S. Matthew v. 3-12.

ON PATIENCE AS A UNIVERSAL VIRTUE. 59

courage and heroic fortitude. One of the chief of the assembly
discovered somewhat else in this unshaken patience : he was the
most learned of the doctors of Amanguchi, and the most violent
against the Gospel. He considered that a law which taught such
patience and such insensibility to affronts, could only come from
Heaven, and argued thus with himself: 'These preachers, who
with so much constancy endure the vilest injuries, cannot pretend
to cozen us. It would cost them too dear a price ; and no man
will deceive another at his own expense. He only who made the
heart of man can place it in so great a tranquillity. The force of
nature cannot reach so far ; and this Christian patience must pro-
ceed from some divine principle. These people cannot but have
some infallible assurance of the doctrine they believe and the
recompense which they expect ; for, in fine, they are ready to
suffer all things for their God, and have no human expectations.
After all, what inconvenience or danger can it be to embrace their
law ? If what they tell us of eternity be true, I shall be eternally
miserable in not believing it ; and suppose there be no life but
this, is it not better to follow a religion which elevates a man
above himself, and which gives him an unalterable peace, than to
profess sects which continue us in all our weakness^ and which
want power to appease the disorders of the heart ? '

"He made his inward reflections on all these things, as he after-
wards declared; and these considerations being accompanied
with the motions of grace, as soon as the sermon was ended, he
confessed that the virtue of the preacher had convinced him ;
he desired baptism, and received it with great solemnity. This
illustrious conversion was followed with answerable success.
Many who had a glimmering of the truth, and feared to know
more plainly, now opened their eyes to the light of the Gospel." *

• Drydexi'45 Lift of S, Francis Xavier^ Book 5.

Digitized by

LECTURE IV.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

"Thou, O God, art my strength."— Psalm xlil 2.

HEN King Solomon had completed the Temple of God

V V in Jerusalem, he erected two majestic columns of bronze
in the great porch by which the people entered to perform their
worship. These columns were crowned with beautiful capitals of
the same enduring metal, in which rows of pomegranates were
placed one above another, and the whole was enclosed with a net-
work of chains, which again was crowned with lilies. To the
column on the right he gave the name of Jachin, and to the
column on the left the name of Booz.* In the Hebrew language
Jachin signifies rectitude, and Booz fortitude. These noble
monuments stood before the temple to express to all who entered
that the law of God is rectitude, and that the will of God which
His law reveals is accomplished by fortitude. The first column
taught the people of God that all things proceed from the wisdom
of God, and are guided to their ends by His justice ; the second
taught that all things are upheld and strengthened by the fortitude
of the divine will. They also taught that to obey the light of
justice we need from God the gift of fortitude, that we may have
a strenuous will to obey His divine behests.

The pomegranate is the symbol of fruitfulness, and the clusters
of them that crown these columns may be taken to express the
fruits that grow from the union of fortitude with justice. The net-
work of chains is the bracing patience that protects and preserves
them : and the lilies express the purity with which the soul is
graced in virtue of these fundamental gifts.

• 3 Kings vii.

ON -CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE,

St. Paul is supposed to refer to these prophetic columns, where
he calls the Church " the pillar and firm foundation of truth ".*
Speaking in figure, every Christian has need of the support of these
two columns, that he may be a holy temple of God : of Jachin, the
light of truth and justice in his mind; of Booz, the firmness of
fortitude in his will; that in the face of all trials he may be
able to accomplish the will of God. Finally, it is through the
two virtues of justice and fortitude that he enters the glorious
Temple of God, the "house not made with hands, eternal in
Heaven ".t

The greatest moral strength of which the soul is capable comes
of the Christian grace and gift of fortitude, of which patience is a
potential part, that is to say, it agrees with patience in some re-
spects and differs from it in others. Patience is mostly concerned
in overcoming the restlessness of nature, in enduring adversities,
in resisting temptations, and in subduing or keeping away im-
patience, anger, or sadness. Fortitude is a braver and a stronger
virtue, is more deeply woven into the constitution of the soul, and
is concerned with difficult action as well as with difficult endur-
ance. Fortitude is required to face great dangers bravely, to
undertake great works beset with difficulties, or to undergo martyr-
dom, or the equivalent of martyrdom.

It must, however, be remembered that difficult action, that is,
the action that surmounts great difficulties, includes endurance as
well, on account of the obstacles opposed by^the greatness or
stubbornness of the work to be done, or of the opposition which
other persons raise up against it, or of the misgivings or reluctances
that arise within ourselves, and which have to be overcome with
courage. Patience, then, is included in fortitude. But fortitude
is a virtue more deeply seated in the soul, is more calm in its
operations, and less the subject of consciousness than patience.
We are less conscious of fortitude because it is a force that works
with greater ease : we are more conscious of patience because it
is exercised with greater effort, and is felt by the greater resist-
ance which it encounters fi-om irritability, impatience, or sadness.
The whole man moves together in fortitude, but in patience

♦ I Timothy iil 15, The word firmamentum in the Vulgate is imperfectly
rendered in the Douai version by the word ground,
+ 2 Cor. V. I.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

only a portion of the fkculties are brought into exercise at one
time.

Whoever has great fortitude ought also to have great patience ;
but this is not always the case. For a person who can call up
great fortitude on great occasions will often be found irritable and
impatient, nay even angry, on smaller occasions. This is owing
to the want of a good habit of self-discipline over the imagination
and the temper in the daily and hourly conduct of life. But this
defect belongs more to natural than to Christian fortitude, which
last is a gift of the Holy Ghost, and, where perfection of life is
diligently cultivated, it includes the gift of patience. But as forti-
tude chiefly concerns the greater and patience the lesser labours
and trials of life, both branches of the virtue require to be well
and carefully cultivated ; and whoever is well exercised in patience
will not be wanting in fortitude.

The word fortitude is derived from the Latin word fortis^ which
means a morally strong and brave man, whilst the word fortitudo
signifies the state or habit of moral strength and bravery. The
Greek word andreia bears the same signification of masculine
bravery. The pagans looked upon it as their chief, most honour-
able, and almost only virtue, considering that the other virtues
belonged to manners more than to manhood. It is still honoured
and rewarded by the world as the greatest of human virtues, and
the most valuable to the republic. Nor does it hold a less posi-
tion among the Christian virtues, where it is guided by faith,
exalted by hope, animated by charity, and regulated by humility.
Christian fortitude is the highest gift of spiritual strength, and the
source of Christian magnanimity. It is not limited to man alone,
as the pagans limited this virtue, but, according to their respective
conditions and duties, is equally given to both sexes. Hence the
Church has had many great and glorious martyrs, confessors, and
spiritual workers among her virgins, wives, and widows, who have
exhibited the greatest fortitude and magnanimity. This has been
especially the case among her devoted virgins, whose vocation and
consecration to their holy state imply the gift of fortitude, im-
planted by the Holy Spirit in their weakness.

The fortitude of the natural man neither goes beyond his native
powers, nor ascends above natural motives, although it is not with-
out a providential assistance from God. Aristotle treats of it
under the head of bravery, and says that " the brave man endures

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

and performs those things that belong to courage for the sake of
what is honourable '^ And he thus explains himself : " He who
bears himself bravely, and fears what he ought, from the right
motive, in the right manner, and at the right time, and feels con-
fidence in like manner, is brave Cicero gives a wider scope
to the virtue, and defines it to be " the undergoing of labours with
considerateness, and the enduring of sufferings with constancy ".f
Elsewhere he describes it as "a condition of soul that is patient
in encountering perils as well as labours and sufferings, apart from
fear "4 The Greek assigns honour for its motive, and the Roman
the benefits which it brings to man.

But Christian fortitude has its foundation in the supernatural
strength of divine grace, and its motive in the honour and love of
God, and in the good we are able to accomplish. St. Augustine
defines it in general terms as " the firmness of the soul amidst the
troublesome things of time," § and more especially as " the love of
enduring all things in peace for God's sake ".|| And elsewhere he
calls it "an affectign of the soul whereby we despise whatever
inconveniences or injuries we may suffer, that are placed beyond
our power to remedy ".T If we put St. Augustine's descriptions
together, we shall find them to correspond with St. Paul's exposi-
tion of Christian fortitude. " Who is he that shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation? or distress? or
famine ? or nakedness ? or persecution ? or the sword ? As it is
written : For Thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We
are accounted as sheep to the slaughter. But in all things we
overcome for the sake of Him that loved us. For I am certain
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor
powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might, nor
height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to sepa-
rate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord."**

In this inspired description of the brave and magnanimous
Christian we are taught that fortitude is the strength of charity ;
that it derives its ardent force from adhering to God through
Christ ; that it is mighty above all created powers to repel the

* Aristotle, Ethics y L. iii. c 7. + Cicero, De Inventione^ L. ii. c. 54.
% Idem, Ad Hertm^ L. iii. c. I. § S. Augustin. Questiones^ Ixxxiii. q. 63,
II Idem, De Moribus Eccles. Cathol. L. i. c. 54.
IF Idem, De Libera Arbitrio^ L. i. c 13. ** Romans viiu 35-39.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

adversaries of the soul, be they earthly or unearthly, come they
with fear or enticement ; and that this fortitude of charity over-
comes every temptation, trial, and suffering by still adhering with
constancy to God.

The world admires its own heroes, who, for honour, interest, or
the excitement which it gives them^ undergo great labours, do works
that look large in the eyes of men, encounter great perils with
risk of life, or endure extreme sufferings with constancy for some
public cause. And though these men are not unfrequently known
to have their moral deficiencies and failings, yet the world exalts
them, rewards them with honours and benefits, and erects monu-
ments to their memory. The hope of these things is often their
leading motive, next to the pride that moves within them. But
the heroes and heroines of God, although the world takes little
note of them, are far more wonderful. Armed with Christian
fortitude their hearts are set on God, in whose strength they do
great things, and suffer great things, and, whilst wholly indifferent
to the world's opinion, are a spectacle to God and His angels.

Their audience is in the invisible, infinite, and most glorious
world of spirits. They know that the power of God is perfected
in their infirmity. They have no confidence in themselves ; all
their trust is in the divine help. In their valiant combats they
first conquer themselves, that they may be in a position to sur-
mount all outward dangers and difficulties. They have no fears
but the fear of God, and no will but His will. Let but the will of
God be known, and^ however difficult the task may be to human
nature, no fear, no obstacle will daunt their ardour in accomplish-
ing His will They may hear many discouraging voices, they
may meet with many obstacles, they may often find the way dark
before them, and have to wait for the light that shines firom provi-
dential conditions ; but the light and strength from God within
them will carry them bravely on, and even though visible success
should fail them, invisible success will be surely gained. For
God often ordains that one shall sow in tears and another reap in
joy. The Martyrs seemed to foil in the world's eyes, when amidst
their sufferings they gave up their lives with their blood ; but
whilst they were crowned in Heaven, the faith they loved to
spread sprang up to numbers fi:om their blood. Nay, Christ
Himself, when to the eyes of the world He seemed to have
utterly failed, at that awful moment redeemed the world and

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

saved mankind. The way of God in His servants is the way of
fortitude in humility ; and it is the sublimity of heroic faith to
seem to fail when all is gained.

Keeping in mind St. Augustine's definition of fortitude, that it
is the love of doing and enduring all things peacefully for God's
sake, let us hear his exposition of the virtue : " That love," he
says, " of which we speak, and which should animate us with the
flame of sanctity towards God, is temperate in withholding the
will from all the things of concupiscence, and strong in rejecting
them. Of all the burdens laid upon us in this life the heaviest is
our own body, and this is owing to the just law which God passed
upon that old sin, which is so widely known but so little under-
stood. The soul trembles and quakes with fear, lest the body be
vexed or tormented with pain or labour, or be taken from us by
death. Through the mere custom of always carrying the body,
we love the burden of it, and find it hard to realize that, if through
the help of the law of divine love we govern the body wisely and
well, it will obtain its resurrection and salvation, and its rightSi
will suffer no injury. But when the soul is turned to God with
the fortitude of love, these things become known, and death is not
only endured but welcomed with desire.

" There remains the great conflict with pain and suffering : yet
nothing of this kind is of such iron hardness and obstinacy but
the fire of love will master it. When this fire bears up the soul
towards God, she soars up freely and wonderfully on strong and
beautiful wings over every torment inflicted on the body, until her
chaste desire brings her to rest in the embrace of God. Can we
ever allow that God would permit the lovers of money, or of praise,
or of sensual pleasure, to become stronger than His own lovers ?
Their affections are not love, they deserve no other name than
that of concupiscence or lust ; yet they show what a force the soul
can put forth, even in the heated and noxious pursuit of those
poor objects. But this is an argument for us, for if the lovers of
these things can endure so much whilst deserting God for the
sake of them, how much ought we to be ready to endure to save
us from the unhappiness of deserting God." *

Elsewhere the great Doctor concludes : " As we have such
great need of the gift of fortitude, we must implore it of Him who

* S. Augustin. De Moribus Eccles, Cathol. L. i. c. 22.
5

66 ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

commands us to be strong ; for unless He makes us strong, we
cannot be what He commands us to be. We must, therefore,
ask it of Him who says : He who perseveres to the end shall be
saved; lest we claim a fortitude of our own, and so become
weakened of all strength." *

We may consider the virtue of fortitude either as it is a special
virtue, having its own immediate object, or as a universal virtue,
giving its strength and firmness to all the other virtues. In this
last sense it is one of the four cardinal virtues. As a special
virtue its office is to restrain and overcome the fears and the auda-
cities that spring up in the sight of dangers, and particularly
the danger of death. Yet even here it stands not alone, but is
accompanied with other virtues, and especially with prudence,
temperance, and moderation. Although fortitude is a high
virtue/' observes St Ambrose, '*it is never without the co-opera-
tion of other virtues ; without justice it would promote iniquity.*'
And in calling it " the temperance of the heart," the Saint ex-
presses its whole character, t

The theologians therefore maintain, that those who encounter
perils and death from unjust or evil motives have not the virtue of
fortitude, but only a habit that has some external resemblance to
it ; because the virtue of fortitude has always some good for its
object The pagan world exalted the fortitude of Cato and men
of his character, because they put themselves to death to escape
the humiliation of defeat ; but the Christian can see nothing in
this conduct beyond the ignominious cowardice that springs from
pride and shame.

The special virtue of fortitude is exercised amidst the perils of
war, on occasions of great danger, under the infliction of severe
sufferings, or wherever there are great fears or difficulties to be
overcome. In warfare this virtue contends with fearless bravery
and firm constancy. But there is another kind of warfare that
cannot be waged effectually without the gift of Christian fortitude,
both in action and endurance, and that is the war of the spirit
against the world, the devil, and the flesh. This is the most vital
and protracted of combats, a combat for life against the bringers
of death, in which fortitude is both the inward strength dnd the

* Idem, in Psalm, xxiv, + S. Ambros. De Officiis^ L. u c. 35.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE, 67

defensive armour of salvation, having patience and magnanimity
for its supporters.

Not only abroad amongst enemies, but at home in social life,
fortitude must uphold the mind and heart with firmness amidst
the temptations, contradictions, and adversities that are wont to
raise unreasonable fears, or to break down courage. Such are loss
of fortune, of friends, of honour, or of deserved respect. Such,
again, are detractions, unjust dealings, insinuations of evil, and
seductive flatteries, which, unless the soul be firm in fortitude, are
wont to afflict the heart with sadness, or to weaken the soul's
sincerity.

The heroes of the Old Testament, who stood for God's cause,
were endowed by Him with this admirable gift of fortitude. Such
were Abraham, Moses, Caleb, Josue, Jepthe, Samson, David, and
the Machabees, "who by faith conquered kingdoms, wrought
justice . . . recovered strength from infirmity, became valiant
in battle, put to flight the armies of foreigners Nor were there
wanting valiant women, like Judith and the Mother of the Macha-
bees. Such also in the spiritual warfare were the prophets and
holy men of God. "They had trials of mockery and stripes,
moreover of bonds and prisons. They were stoned, they were
cut asunder, they were tempted, they were put to death by the
sword, they wandered about in sheep-skins, in goat-skins, being
in want, distressed, afflicted : of whom the world was not worthy :
wandering in deserts, in mountains, in caves of the earth." * All
these were divinely fortified to be the witnesses of God and the
soul against the errors and sins of the world.

Such heroes of God were the Apostles of Christ, strong and
brave in their fortitude, subduing the world to His truth at the
cost of everything that nature holds dear, until they gave up their
Hves to the tormentors. Such were the holy Martyrs of both
sexes, who for the love of God endured every ignominy and suf-
fering, and sealed their faith with their blood. Such the noble
Confessors, those holy men and women who sacrificed the world,
gave up all things to God for the love of souls, and welcomed
sufferings as others welcome treasures, that they might prove
their lo^ of God by their endurance, - We are certainly not less
weak by nature than they were, and our souls are encompassed

* Hebrews xi. 32-38.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

with enemies, if less violent, more subtle and numerous ; and we
have therefore as great a need of the virtue of fortitude, as well to
contend against our adversaries as to keep our souls in peace and
safety. We have not less reason, then, to take to heart the ad-
monition of St. Paul : "Be ye strengthened in the Lord, and in
the might of His power. Put ye on the armour of God, that you
may be able to stand against the deceits of the devil."*

We have now to consider what vices are opposed to fortitude.
On the side of defect they are timidity or cowardice, and also
intimidation, which causes a false instead of a just fear ; whilst on
the side of excess is to be found that audacity or foolish daring
which amounts to rashness. Yet neither fear nor daring are to
be taken for vices when rightly used and properly regulated, but
only when they become inordinate passions that run into excess
beyond what is just and reasonable.

The vice of timidity or cowardice arises from fearing without
just reason what we ought not to fear, when we ought not to fear,
or more than we ought to fear. All fear springs from the love of
something that we dread to lose, or that we dread lest it should
suffer. Thus the fear of God springs from the just dread of being
separated from Him who is the Supreme Cood, and our supreme
good, and whom we ought to love above all things. The fear of
reverence is altogether different ; it is an inspiration of awe and
wonder that comes upon us through contemplation of the Divine
Majesty, The fear of losing one's life comes of inordinate love
for this mortal and transitory state of existence, which the love of
the Supreme Good is not strong enough to conquer. Self-love
has many fears, all of a more or less foolish and inordinate kind.
Every kind of love has its own fears, and every kind of sin, having
a love of its own, has also its fears and its angers. The avaricious
man loves his wealth, fears to lose it, and is angry with every
person and thing that imperils it. The sensual man loves his
sensual pleasures, but is disturbed with fear and anger against
those who would deprive him of them. The ambitious man
loves honours, fears dishonour, and is angered by those who
would lessen his position.

But it is the fear of great dangers, and especially of death, that
is opposed to fortitude as a special virtue; whilst all the fears

• Ephesiansvi. lo-ii.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

that drive men into sin and injustice, or into the danger of them,
are opposed to fortitude as a universal virtue. For example,
when a man from fear of losing his property, or his reputation,
commits perjury ; when a woman from fear of evil treatment, or
of starvation, gives up her virtue ; or when a person gives up the
exercise of his religion from that fear of the world's opinion
which is called human' respect.

Intimidation is that fear which is struck by other persons into
the soul so as to overcome the fear of God, and make a man
fear what he ought not to fear, where he ought not to fear,
or to fear more than he ought to fear, to the danger or evil of
his soul.

Audacity or rash daring is an excess that attempts to imitate
fortitude, and that is without the prudence and modesty of mind
which belongs to that virtue. It mostly springs from vanity and
the love of vain glory, for the audacious are boasters of what they
are not, and wish to seem strong and brave when they are only
weak and timid.

It may be noted that the fear caused by intimidation and the
rashness of audacity both proceed from one or more of these
three causes : first, from not setting a sufficient value on the good
or the life to be protected, and especially the good and life of the
soul; secondly, from pride in trusting too much to one's self
whilst despising others, as though they had no power to injure or
overmaster us ; thirdly, from stupidity, which is too dull to see
the danger to which one is exposed.

To complete the anatomy of fortitude, we must examine the
parts of which the virtue is composed, and which combine to
give elevation, steadfastness, and splendour to its exercise. These
are confidence, patience, magnanimity, magnificence, constancy,
and perseverance. Confidence is the assured hope of bringing
what we undertake to a successful end. Patience, as we have
seen, resists perturbation, grief, and sadness, and victoriously
endures molestation. Magnanimity is that greatness of soul
which rises above difficulties and dangers. Magnificence is that
largeness of soul which projects and carries out great works from
high and noble motives. Constancy stands with unchangeable
firmness to its resolutions, and shuns the levity that flits in restless
moods from one thing to another. Perseverance is the resolute

Digitized by

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

continuance in good once begun, despite of all obstacles and
discouragements.

It is obvious that perseverance must greatly depend on patience
and constancy. And here St. Bernard will instruct us. "Per-
severance," he says, " and that alone, brings the glory that crowns
the virtues. Without perseverance the warrior wins no victory,
the victor wins no palm. It comes of the vigour of the powers,
and gives completeness to the virtues. Perseverance is the off-
spring of constancy, the sister of patience, the friend of peace, the
bond of friendship. Take perseverance away, and fidelity will
fail of its reward, well-doing of its grace, and fortitude of its praise.
For not he who begins but he who perseveres to the end will be
saved. When Saul was made king of Israel he was little in his
own eyes, but he did not persevere in his humility, and so lost
his kingdom and his life. Had Samson persevered in prudence
and Solomon in devotion, the first would not have lost his strength,
nor the second his wisdom. I entreat you, then, that you keep
with firmness to this sure sign of iustice to this one and only
faithful guardian of integrity."*

The vices opposed to perseverance, as St. Thomas observes, are
softness and pertinacity or stubbornness. Softness comes of ease
and pleasure. A soft and easy life melts away those energies
whereby we endure labours and hardships, and dissolves the force
that encounters and conquers the difficulties that are met with in
doing good works, and especially in doing them in the best and
most patient way. The proper cure for the contemptible vice of
softness is labour and self-denial

Pertinacity is that Wind and stubborn vice which sticks to one's
own sense and clings to one's own way, despite of what is right
and reasonable. Careless of being in the wrong path so long as
he has his own will and way, the pertinacious man disregards the
wisdom that would show him the right way, and will probably
look upon advice as an insult to his consistency. "We have
heard," says Isaias, " of the pride of Moab : his pride, and his
arrogancy, and his indignation, are more than his strength." t

Martyrdom is the crown of fortitude. It exceeds every other
human act in its perfection, and this because it gives the most
positive proof of the greatest charity. Yet it is not the sufferings

* S. Bernard. EpisU 129 ad Januenses, + Isaias xvi. 6.

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but the cause that makes the martyr. God deh'ghts not in suffer-
ings, but He delights in the brave and patient love with which the
martyr suffers. He delights in the calm, resigned, and cheerful
trust with which the martyr looks up to Him amidst his torments.
The blood of the martyrs consecrates the earth beneath, from
which their souls look up to Heaven above — that Heaven which
awaits- them on their deliverance from the body. Their faith falls
in light on the spectators of their combat, and reaches the hearts
of men of good will In the words of St Cyprian, himself a
martyr, and the witness of many martyrdoms : " Christ rejoices in
them, the Divine Protector of their faith fights in them, and con-
quers through them, giving them all the gifts that they are capable
of receiving. Christ is there, the conflict is His own ; He upholds
them. He strengthens them. He loves the assertors of His Name.
After conquering death in Himself, He conquers death in us."*

Happy are they who share the honour and glory of the martyrs !
But this is refused to no one by Him who commands us to take
up our cross daily, and to follow Him. For a life of self-denial is
a martyrdom, and calls for the martyr's fortitude. St. Gregory
tells us that, " when persecution ceases, there is left for us still the
martyrdom of peace. The neck is not brought under the weapon
of steel, but the desires of the body have still to be slain with the
sword of the spirit." t

St. Bernard distinguishes three kinds of martyrdom : martyrdom
in will alone, martyrdom in act alone, and martyrdom in act as
well as will. Martyrdom in will alone is found in those who are
ready to give their blood and life for the virtues, although the
occasion does not present itself. Martyrdom in act alone is found
in the Holy Innocents, slain in the place of Christ before they
reached the use of reason, and crowned by Christ with the martyr's
palm. Martyrdom in will and act is the prerogative of the glorious
army of martyrs, who cheerfully sealed their faith with their blood
for the love of Christ

Three things must unite to make the true martyr : first, the
state of grace and charity ; secondly, the actual surrender of life
in public testimony of the choice of things invisible in preference
to things visible ; thirdly, the cause of death, which must be in
defence of the faith or of some virtue. Wherefore, whoever

♦ S. Cyprian. EpisU 8. t S. Greg. Mag. Horn. 3 in Evangd.

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would imitate the martyrs must be clothed with charity, must
endure their sufiferings with fortitude, and must die to the passions
of their nature for the sake of God and the virtues.

St. John Chrysostom often insists on this spiritual kind of
martyrdom. Speaking to the people of Antioch on the actual
martyrdom of their former Archbishop Eustathius, he puts to
them this question: "Who, then, can be a martyr?" And he
answers in these words : " I have frequently told you that it is
not death that makes the martyr, but that resolute will can do the
same. Not I, but St. Paul gives this definition. He says : ' I die
daily, I protest How can one die daily ? How can one take
six hundred deaths into one and the same body ? By that reso-
lution of will that makes us ready to die. Abraham stained not
his sword with blood, he did not redden the altar with the gore of
his son, he did not slay Isaac. Yet he perfected his sacrifice.
Who says this? He who accepted his sacrifice. God said to
Abraham : * Thou hast not spared thy beloved son for My sake
Yet Abraham received him back alive, and took him home. How
was it, then, that he did not spare him ? He spared him not in
the resolution of his will ; and of such sacrifices I am accustomed
to judge. His hand did not immolate, his will made the sacrifice.
It was a sacrifice without the shedding of blood. Those who are
initiated in the divine mysteries know what I say : even the
unbloody sacrifice is perfect, and Abraham's was the figure of

Let us hear the great St. Gregory again. "If," he says, "we
strive in earnest to have the virtue of patience, although we live
during the peace of the Church, we may still have the palm of
martyrdom. For there are two kinds of martyrdom, one of mind,
another in act as well as in mind. We may be martyrs without
the violence of the sword. To die by the hand of the persecutor
is martyrdom in open act ; to endure contumelies and still pardon
our enemies is martyrdom in the hidden soul." t Standing at the
tomb of a martyr the great Pontiff speaks yet more impressively :
"We are standing," he says, "at a martyr's tomb, and we know
by what death he reached the Kingdom of Heaven. We may not
be called upon to give up our bodies in the manner he did ; but

* J. Chrysost. Sertn, in S, Eustathium,
t S. Greg. Mag. Hom^ 177 in Evangel,

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

we conquer the world in the spirit. God accepts this sacrifice; in
the judgment of His fatherly spirit He accepts this kind of victory.
Our Lord Jesus Christ beholds this combat within the heart, helps
us to wage the war, and rewards the conqueror.'* *

We may dweU on the sufferings of the martyrs until we almost
fancy ourselves in their place, but unless we imitate their fortitude
by dying to ourselves, this is an idle delusion. Even to honour the
martyrs without imitating them^ as St. Augustine says, is but a
false adulation. Our kind of martyrdom is marked out for us by
St. Paul, and demands that we ourselves be the executioners.
" If," he says, " by the spirit we put to death the deeds of the flesh,
we shall live." t

The life of man on earth is a warfare, says holy Job. The life
of the true Christian is a daily cross and martyrdom. To deny
one's self, to combat the corrupt propensities of our nature, to
keep the desire of Eternity well advanced before the things of time,
and to endure whatever may come upon us, demands a patience,
a fortitude, and a perseverance like the force that carried the
martyrs through their sufferings. Yet let no one think that this
daily fortitude is hard, stern, and pitiless like the boasted virtue of
the Stoics. There are critical moments when fortitude demands .
that we become stern and severe with ourselves, but never with
others, unless to check some great evil. But where this vutue is
habitual, and in good exercise, it is gentle, free, and cheerful. As
it is the gift of the Holy Ghost, and works with the sweet flame of
charity, it sweetens the soul, and by its resistance to the vices that
produce fear, hardness, and disconsolation, true Christian fortitude
makes the soul peaceful, pleasant, and cheerful.

This view of the subject has been well expressed by the learned
and devout Gerson. "The gift of fortitude," he observes, "is
different from the virtue, although both regard what is arduous and
difficult. As a virtue fortitude withstands or endures perils, such
as we must suffer if we would not part with good ; with the good,
for example, of holding to the faith, of pursuing justice, or of doing
good to others. But as a gift of the Holy Ghost fortitude is a
gratuitous and abounding grace, given to those who seek perfec-
tion of life through the divine counsels. It may be defined as an
affection of the soul that restrains concupiscence and the fears

* S. Greg. Mag, Horn, 27 in Evangel. + Romans viii. 13.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE,

arising from adversity. Those who are in the charity of God have
it in habit, but those who are perfect have it in action. But those
who have this gift more in habit than in action, and are therefore
imperfect, have the power of becoming perfect, if they will only
bring out the habit into actual work and complete exercise."*

Some persons are stronger by nature than others, and some have
larger and freer powers. Some, again, are by constitution more
temperate, and by the soundness of their frame have their irascible
and sensual passions under greater control This firmer constitu-
tion of nature may be of great advantage to the Christian virtues \
but if pride takes the place of humility, and sensuality that of tem-
perance, this very strength of constitution will contribute its energy
to the ruin of soul and body. But as Christian fortitude is a gift
of God, and not a quality of nature, when brought from habit into
exercise, it will do the bravest and most valiant deeds even in the
weakest natures. Witness those virgin martyrs of tender years and
delicate bringing up, who for the love of God did the noblest acts
and underwent the greatest sufferings devoid of all disturbing
fear. Witness again those heroic servants of God, who amidst
corporal infirmities that would lay common mortals on their beds as
permanent invalids, have expended the energies of a dozen ordi-
nary mortals in laborious and unceasing acts of charity to their
neighbours. It is the contrast between conscious weakness and
the divine power working through that weakness that gives to
Christian fortitude its splendour and sublimity,

St. Paul has expressed this conscious power m conscious weak-
ness with magnificent generosity. ''And He said to me: My
grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect in infirmity.
Gladly therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of
Christ may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my
infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in dis-
tresses for Christ. For when I am weak, then am I powerful." t
Of his daily necessities and trials the great Apostle speaks in the
same language of fortitude. ** I speak not for want. For I have
learnt in whatever state I am to be contented therewith. I know
both how to be brought low, and I know how to abound : every-
where, and in all things I am instructed, both to be full, and to be

• Gerson. Compend, Theolog, c, De Septem Donts,
t 2 Corinthians xii. 9, 10.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

hungry ; both to abound, and to suffer need. I can do all things
in Him that strengtheneth me."*

In his Book on the Duties of the Ministers of the Church St.
Ambrose treats professedly on the virtue of fortitude. He calls it
the firm and energetic force of virtue, which is higher than the
other virtues, because it commands and invigorates them. With
justice is this virtue called fortitude, because it is through its help
that man governs himself, keeps down anger, and refuses to let
himself be relaxed or softened by the allurements of the world
around him. What can be higher, what more magnificent, than
for a man to rule his body from the elevation of his mind, and to
bring it under servitude ; to insist that it shall obey his will, and
work with diligence in the way that his resolute will shall deter-
mine?

Of the two kinds of fortitude, the first looks upon the things of
the body as the least, and as if they were superfluous, and as
rather deserving to be despised than thought much of. The
second kind follows the Supreme Good of the soul, and whatever
makes the soul herself good and beautifhl ; all this it follows with
affectionate attention. What can be so exalting as to form the
soul to an elevating energy, that looks on the things of this world
as neither great in themselves nor deserving to be constantly pur-
sued. If you have this much judgment in your soul, you will of
necessity prefer what makes the soul herself good and beautiful,
and will give your mind and affections to that good.

But whatever befalls you, let it not upset or disturb your mind.
Be not like those who let any loss of this world's goods, any
lowering of their honour or respect, any gainsaying of their
adversaries, bring them down from their superiority over such
things. Finally, let no peril to health or life that ought to be
encountered for justice' sake ever move you. This fortitude
belongs to those whom Christ sets in the field, and who after law-
ful striving shall be crowned. What think you of this law ? Does
it seem weak for your guidance in the combat? "Tribulation
worketh patience ; and patience trial ; and trial hope ; and hope
confoundeth not, because the charity of God is poured forth in
our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to us." t

The most eminent spiritual writers lay it down as a principle

• Philippians iv. 11-13, f S. Ambros, De Officiis Ministrortm^ L. 1, c. 35-37.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

that fortitude is the moral foundation of contemplation. A little
consideration will make this evident. What is contemplation but
the resting of the mind and heart upon God as their supreme
object, and as the highest object of all desire ? For in contempla-
tion the mind passes not from object to object, nor from reason
to reason, by an ascent from inferior to superior things, as in
meditation, but rests with fixed attention and wonder upon God
Himself, and devotes the affections to Him. But this implies great
steadfastness of mind and constancy of heart, and such a fortitude
of love as cannot easily be diverted from this divine exercise, either
by dissipation of mind or by sadness of heart. The contemplative
Psalmist therefore says to God: "Thou art my fortitude"; and
" I will keep my fortitude to Thee But this can be nothing but
that fortitude of love that adheres to God with constancy, and
endures all things rather than suffer the least reparation of the
superior mind and the heart from God,

It is a very great thing to have the mind habitually placed in
the light of this truth, that the soul has but one Supreme Object,
one Supreme Good ; that all other things are only so far good as
they lead us to that Supreme Good ; that we are only blessed in
that degree in which we partake of that good; and that the stead-
fast contemplation of our Sovereign Good, sustained by the forti-
tude of love, is the nearest approach that we can make in this life
to the Living Fountain of all good. For the fortitude of love both
loves and endures ; loves on the side of God, endures on the side
of the creature, which is the perfection of charity.

This strong and ardent virtue may be likened to the furnace
that purifies gold ; to the root in the fostering soil that upholds and
invigorates the tree ; to the armour that protects life from hostile
weapons ; and to the strong pinions upon which the eagle soars
into the light of the sun.

As the furnace refines the gold, fortitude purges away the drossy
incumbrances upon our spiritual nature, and makes it beautiful in
strength. As the Proverb says: "Strength and beauty are her
clothing". The wind breathes into the furnace to enkindle its
ardour; the Holy Spirit breathes fortitude into the flame of
charity ; in token of which that Divine Spirit came visibly upon
the Apostles in a mighty wind with tongues of fire. The root
sustains and invigorates the tree through its stem, branches, leaves,
and fruit; fortitude sustains and invigorates the soul in all her

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

powers, virtues, works, and sufferings. The Lord said to Josue
before he entered the promised land : "Take courage and be very
valiant : that thou mayest observe and do all the law, which Moses
my servant hath commanded thee : turn not from it to the right
hand or the left, that thou mayest understand all things which
thou dost'**

The breastplate protects the heart from hostile weapons ; forti-
tude protects the soul from the temptations of every spiritual and
carnal enemy. The whole world cannot injure a soul that is fenced
with faithful fortitude. Armed with this defence the most delicate
virgins, such as Catherine, Agnes, Cecilia, Agatha, and Lucy,
were able to overcome the rage of tyrants, and every invention of
fear and cruelty. But the wonder grows less when we reflect that
"strength comes from Heaven The eagle soars on his strong
pinions against the sun, fortitude sustains the wings of the con-
templative soul, and upholds her flight into the regions of light,
from which the Sun of Justice shines upon her.

We may consider the ascending degrees of fortitude after the
manner of St. Bonaventure. If we view the virtue as it raises us
above the things of this world : it is a high degree of fortitude to
conquer the world's allurements, and look down upon its transient
delights; it is a higher degree to conquer the body, and keep down
its concupiscences ; it is the highest degree to conquer one's self
in the soul, and to change self-love into the love of God.

If we consider the virtue as it resists evil : it is a high degree of
fortitude to resist and repel the sins of the body, such as intem-
perance, sensuality, and uncleanness; it is a higher degree to resist
and repel the sins of the soul, such as self-love, pride, vanity, and
insincerity; it is the highest degree to resist and repel the first
movements and occasions of sin, whether in body or in soul.

If we consider the virtue as it endures adversities, privations, or
sorrows with peace and resignation : it is a high degree to endure
with contentment the loss of such things as this world can give us;
it is a higher degree to endure our personal sufferings and sorrows
with a patient and peaceful heart ; it is the highest degree to give
up our mortal life for God's sake, whensoever He may call for it.

If we consider this same gift and virtue of fortitude as it carries
us with cheerful content through the labours of our vocation : it is

* Josue i. 7.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

a high degree to do our work in this world with a view to our
salvation ; it is a higher degree to do our work in the right way,
that is, according to the will of God ; it is the highest degree to
labour in the interior of the soul, so as to perfect our union with
God in time and for eternity.

To sum up the whole doctrine of fortitude in a sentence, it is
the strength of God's grace working through the co-operation of
the will in the weakness of the creature; and the fortitude of
resignation, as the word implies, is the surrender of one's self to
God amidst accepted afflictions, that, attached to the cross of
Christ, they may perfect our soul. This is the summit of fortitude.

A comprehensive view of fortitude, as the virtue of the virtues,
will take us deep into the designs of God, far and wide over the
history of mankind, and high into the heavens above. It is the
eternal plan of God to draw the greatest possible amount of good
out of the evil produced by evil wills, and to demonstrate His
power in the weakness of His creatures where their wills are good.
These two magnificent demonstrations of His power and goodness
are effected by the strength of His grace in the souls that freely
and generously co-operate with His gifts. But this involves the
conflict of good with evil, a conflict that goes on increasing in in-
tensity, owing to the growth and complication of evil as the world
grows older. Contemplate the history of the world from the
opening of the Book of Genesis to the last prophecies recorded
in the Book of Revelations, and you will see how the combat of
good against evil goes on complicating and extending, at one
time in violence, at another time in subtleties, until the time our
Lord predicted when "you will scarcely find faith upon the
earth Hence, as evil increases, fortitude and patience become
still more needful to the servants of God. The rewards of those
who overcome in the conflict are set before us for our encourage-
ment in the same Book of Revelations in which those combats
are described ; and St. John sums up the whole spirit of the
conflict in these words : " Here is the patience of the saints, who
keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus'*.*

When the conflict with evil is ended ; when that evil has been
compelled to serve for the probation and sanctification of God's
elect ; when all the good that can be drawn out of evil has been

• Apocalypse xiv. 12.

ON CHRISTIAN FORTITUDE.

accumulated in the souls of the just ; then will come that glorious
manifestation of God's wisdom and power before the assembled
universe of created intelligences, and the wonders of His grace and
providence will be seen from beginning to end. But the most
wonderful demonstration of God's love and power will appear in
this, that the active, violent, subtle, combined, and most aggressive
powers of evil have been all overcome by such gentle virtues as
charity, humility, and patience.

Of all material elements fire is the most powerful and the
noblest. By its subtle force all things live, grow, and are pre-
served. It illuminates, invigorates, and fertilizes the powers of
nature. Into what it enters, that it expands ; and to many things
it gives strength and consistency, from the granite bones of the
earth to the vessel of clay from the potter's wheel. It has not
only the noble property of ascending, as in flame, but also the
benignant property of descending, as in the rays of the sun.
Having dominion over the weaker elements, it consumes without
destroying them, and converts them into more ethereal forms of
existence. Fire was therefore the most expressive element in
which to manifest to mortal eyes the invisible descent of the Holy
Spirit upon the disciples of Christ — expressive of the light of
wisdom, the ardour of charity, and the strengthening and trans-
forming power of fortitude.

When the Holy Spirit conveys His gifts to a soul. He infuses
the strength of fortitude into the ardour of charity, and this
fortitude ignited by this charity passes into our spiritual powers ;
and if our will is faithful to co-operate with the divine gift, from
our powers it passes into the virtues, making the soul strong from
weakness and pliant to endure trials and to resist the evils of this
mortal life. Then fortitude gives steadiness and^ strength to that
bright flame of charity which aspires to God and to the service of
God in His creatures, and gives honour and glory to our glorious
Lord and Creator. What is weak or vicious in the creature is
consumed in that strong fire, that it may be changed into spiritual
good. In descending, that celestial flame consumes what ought
to be consumed, and strengthens what ought to be strengthened ;
and that gift which descended as a flame of grace re-ascends as a
flame of love, bearing up the soul along with it into a closer, more
constant, and more elevated communion with God, from whom
the fortitude of charity descends.

LECTURE V.

ON the' patience of the son of god.

** May the Lord direct your hearts in the charity of God and the patience
of Christ " — 2 Thessaloni ANS iii. 5.

ALTHOUGH the perfection of God is infinitely beyond the
comprehension of His creatures, He has not left us in this
darkling world without light to know that He is the Fountain of
all goodness, or without conscience to feel that He is merciful,
compassionate, and just. He has given us luminous revelations of
His glorious nature, and has manifested His divine attributes in
ways suited to our understanding, that we may rise through that
knowledge to the contemplation of His infinite perfection in some
degree, and may enkindle our desires for divine communion with
Him. He has done more for us, and has manifested .Himself
through His Divine Son, one with Him in His divine nature, one
with us in His human nature ; and in the communication of His
Holy Spirit, poured forth with love into our hearts, whereby we
receive the sense of God, and the power to love Him and feel
after Him, even whilst tied to this earth by the corruptible body,
that we may have our conversation in Heaven.

But of all that God has taught us, and of all that we have learnt
by experience, there is nothing that strikes the reflecting mind
with more awe and wonder, or proves more fully His perfection,
than His infinite patience with His rebellious and sinful creatures.
This is the great consolation of the just ; this is the great scandal
of the proud. Truly His thoughts are not as our thoughts, nor
His ways as our ways. The patience of God is the silence of His
power, whilst His mercy speaks to the conscience. He made us
all for Himself, every one of the children of Adam. He made us
all that we might be happy in Him, who can never be happy in

Digitized by

ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD. 8i

ourselves. But he knows the dust out of which He has so wonder-
fully made us; He knows how weak and restless is our spirit
which He made from nothing, without His help to fortify our
nature, and to lead and guide it to Himself. And when we trust
to ourselves instead of trusting ourselves to Him, and fall into
every kind of sin and misery, our merciful God has patience with
us, gives us time, speaks to our conscience, encircles us with His
providential mercies, and scourges us with the miseries of our ini-
quities, that we may have every motive for returning to Him
And when we do return, His mercy and pardon are as perfect as
His patience.

What a spectacle to the angels is the patience of God imposing
silence on His justice whilst souls are still in the course of proba-
tion ! When we reflect upon the long endurance of our Heavenly
Father with His earthly children, so movingly described by the
prophets ; and how through the long ages of their blind perversity.
He was benignly preparing the way for their Redemption, speak-
ing all the time to their conscience, giving them admonitory
warnings, merciful corrections, and visible proofs of His provi-
dential care of them ; and waiting, still waiting in silence, if per-
chance, before their final summons from the body to His awful
presence, they might acknowledge Him, turn to Him, and repent ;
we stand transfixed in astonishment at a patience so great and
divine. "Thou, our God, art gracious and true, patient, and
ordering all things in mercy."* So wonderful is the merciful
patience of God, that not a few sects of philosophy or creeds of
religion, falsely so called, following the instincts of pride, have
construed the divine patience into indifference or cruelty, not
seeing that the patience that awaits for the conversion of the sinner
is of the divine goodness that orders all things in mercy. But, o
the eyes of faith, this very patience is one of the sublimest proofs
of the divine perfection.

When we reflect again upon the history of the ages since God
has manifested Himself openly to the world in his Son, since the
Gospel of grace and truth has shone with such love to the souls of
men ; how far more profound has been our insight into that divine
patience with which God endures the sins and ingratitude with
which so many of His Christian children have repaid his infinite

• Wisdom XV. I,
6

82 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

love ! Stupendous is the patient love with which our Heavenly
Father awaits the conversion of rebellious and ungrateful souls.
But when at last the sinful soul returns to Him, and finds the par-
don and peace that remove all her miseries, she exclaims in
astonishment : Oh, infinite patience of my God and Saviour !

What a profound conception of the mystery of the Incarnation
has. been given us by TertuUian in this short sentence: — "God
placed His Spirit in His Son with all patience".* From the
moment that the Eternal Word of the Father was made man by
the operation of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary,
His human nature was "full of grace and truth"; and was endowed
with a divine patience derived from His Godhead, with whose
person that human nature was united, that was perfect for en-
during all the conditions of humanity, all its trials, and all those
sufferings which He was destined to undergo for our redemption
and salvation.

It was through the loss of patience that Adam fell into sin. It
is through the loss of the same virtue that his innumerable descen-
dants have sinned after his example. And it was by the power of
His loving patience that the Son of God worked out our redemp-
tion, by whose sufferings we are healed. As by the loss of that
fundamental patience which adheres with constancy to God we
fell into pride and self-seeking, and thence into every kind of
weakness, sin, and misery ; so through the patience of Christ we
are brought back to God, and are restored to the possession and
consistency of those virtues by which we adhere to God and pre-
serve ourselves from evil. When we consider who He was, and
what He was, and all the things that He suffered and endured
from the moment of His incarnation to His last breathing on the
Cross, and with what gentle love and meekness He endured, we
see that His patience was as wonderful as His humility, and that
His Incarnation is the amazing mystery of humility and patience.
From this we also collect that humility and patience are the true
foundations of human perfection. Wherefore, in contemplating
the one complete and perfect example of humanity, perfect because
united with the divinity, what calls for our most especial attention
and imitation is His divine patience and humility ; because these
are the most difficult as well as the most fundamental virtues, and

♦ Tertullian. De Patientia, c. 3.

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ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD, 83

the virtues which perfect that sovereign virtue of charity, by which
we also, in another order, are united with God.

The place in which to contemplate the humility and patience of
the Son of God in their supreme manifestation and greatest light
is on the desolate hill of Golgotha, where, according to the tradi-
tion of the early Fathers, derived from the Hebrews, the body of
the sinful Adam was interred. There at the foot of the Cross of
Jesus, whose blood falls upon the earthly remains of the fallen
parent of our race, as well as upon us, his descendants, we may
contemplate the divine patience by the light thrown upon it from
Mount Thabor. But let us first raise the eyes of our faith above
that dreary hill, strewed as it is with the relics of criminal execu-
tions, and contemplate the Eternal Father sending forth His Son
upon His mission to this guilty world. " God so loved the world,
as to give His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him
may not perish, but may have everlasting life."*

In the instant of His Incarnation His human nature became
one with His divine personality ; and, through that personal union
of His soul with His divinity, Christ held from the Father the
plenitude of wisdom and knowledge, and internally possessed the
glory of the beatific vision. He called Himself " the Son of
man," but on every suitable occasion proclaimed Himself " the
Son of God," and asserted His equality with His Father. He
says : " He that seeth Me seeth the Father also,"t and : " All what-
soever things the Father hath are Mine ".J Again He says : " I
am in the Father and the Father in Me,"§ and : " I and the Father
are one".|| And again : " I came forth from the Father and have
come into the world ; again I leave the world and I go to the
Father".1I He was the light of the world, knew all that is in
heaven and earth, and all that is in man.

After contemplating the Son of God in His own unspeakable
light, think of the wonderful patience with which He held back
within the veil of His corporal frame the fulness of the light and
glory within Him, that He might converse with men in humility,
and might suffer contradictions and persecutions with unalterable
patience. His life was hidden, and He became a " sign to be
contradicted ". The power that creates and rules the world was

♦ S. John iii. 16. t Ibid. xiv. 9. t Ibid. xvi. 15. § Ibid. xiv. lo.
|l Ibid. X. 30. H Ibid. xvi. 28.

84 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

with Him, the light that enlightens all created intelligences was
within Him, because He was the Son of God Once, and only
once for a brief hour, He revealed to chosen witnesses the
glorious majesty which for the rest of His human life was con-
cealed from mortal eyes. Yet He enjoined on those chosen
witnesses that they should tell the vision to no man until He had
arisen from the dead.

Of the three apostolic witnesses of that glorious vision, St John
declares : " We saw His glory, the glory as it were of the only-
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth".* And St. Peter
appeals to the same glonous vision as bearing testimony to the
truth of his teaching. " We have not followed cunningly devised
fables when we made known to you the power and the presence of
our Lord Jesus Christ, but having been made eye-witnesses of His
Majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and
glory : this voice coming down to Him from the excellent glory :
This is My beloved Son in whom I have pleased Myself; hear ye
Him. And this voice we heard brought from Heaven when we
were with Him in the holy mount."t

After realizing to your mind the power, the majesty, and the
glory that were hidden in the Son of God from the eyes of men,
think to the full extent of your light of that divine patience and
fortitude with which, to use the words of St Leo, " He held back
His majesty, that the persecutors might have power to inflict their
rage upon Him With what astonishment must the three wit-
nesses of His glory have observed His humble and patient ways,
as, " with looks hidden and as of one despised," He bore in silence
the contradictions of hypocrites and the reproaches of sinners !
With what meekness He accepted the humiliations, with what
gentleness the sufferings, that were heaped upon Him, as though
He were the worst of criminals, and the enemy of the people whom
He had come to save !

For how many ages, and through how many vicissitudes, had
His chosen people waited for Him as their Messias and their
Deliverer? Instructed by their prophets, trained incessantly to
the expectation of Him by their laws, their sacrifices, and the rites
and ceremonies that mingled with their daily lives, that expecta-
tion, of whose approaching fulfilment there were so many visible

* S. John. i. 14.

+ 2 S. Peler i. 16-18.

ON THE FATIEJSrCE OF THE SON OF GOD. 85

signs, was the ruling thought of their minds. But the veils of
pride and sensuality were upon their hearts ; and although He
proved Himself to be their expected Messias by the lights of His
teaching, by His power over nature and His fulfilment of the
prophecies, they could not endure His lowliness, or the humble
garniture under which He concealed His majesty. He was in the
world, and the world knew Him not ; He came to save the world,
but to save it through His sufferings. Ever imitating the patience
of His Father, He bore to be unknown except to a few disciples.
After accomplishing the stupendous work of our redemption, He
left it to His disciples, after He had departed from the world, to
make known that He had saved mankind from eternal death and
had brought them everlasting life. Truly Thou art a hidden and
most patient God ! Thou art concealed from the proud and made
known to the humble.

Let us here pause and turn our reflection upon ourselves. We
profess to be the patient followers of the patient Son of God. Do
we understand how deep that patience goes which rests the
humanity of Christ upon the firm foundation of His divinity, and
gives to His human will the strength to hold to the will of His
Father, unmoved and undisturbed in its peace and self-possession
by all that men can say or do against Him ? Do we understand
the profundity of that patience which refrains from every egotistical
self-assertion, however grossly He is misjudged, however ignomini-
ously He is insulted ? He only glorifies His Heavenly Father,
declares His unity with His Father, and equally declares that He
can do nothing without His Father. Yet He calls upon us to be
the imitators of His patience, to rest for strength on Him ; to take
up our daily cross and follow Him; to refrain from our selfish
egotism ; and in patience to possess our souls.

Contemplate the plenitude of the Godhead dwelling corporately
in Christ Jesus, and how nevertheless He only manifested His
grace and wisdom by degrees, as men could bear their light, whilst
the splendour of His light and wisdom is all reserved within
Him, held back by His infinite patience. Although in the person
of God, He bore with unspeakable patience the enclosure of the
virginal womb ; He endured the humbling conditions of infancy,
the trials and subjection of youth, the labours of obedience to His
earthly guardians, and the toils of labour.

He submissively remained under the law of obedience for thirty

86 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

years, until the law of Moses permitted Him to teach. Yet He
was Himself the master of the law, Himself the object of the law.
He came with the new law of grace and love, yet patiently sub-
mitted Himself to the hard restraints and rigorous observances
of that ceremonial law which was but an irksome and laborious
figure of His own mission and sacrifice. But though he faithfully
observed its commands to the letter, apart from the corruptions of
the Pharisees, that very law was made the pretext for opposing
His preaching, and the final plea for putting Him to death. Who-
ever will apply his mind with diligence to the consideration of
these contrasts between the interior spirit of Christ and the
exterior law of Moses to which He was obedient, will obtain a
new key to His divine patience. By obeying the law of life He
was made subject to the law of death.

Severe to Himself, He is gentle, mild, and forbearing to all
others. His meekness is the beautiful flower. His peacefulness
the sweet fruit of His patience. His doctrine is doubted and
disputed ; He is charged with being an impostor ; He is called a
blasphemer ; His wonderful works are ascribed to the devil ; His
adversaries gnash their teeth, bum with rage, and are prepared to
stone Him. Yet His equanimity is unmoved. His meek de-
meanour is not altered, the calmness of His peace undergoes no
change. Resting on His union with His Father, the ground of
His invincible strength, His divine fortitude is tried at every point,
and at every point His patience is invincible.

After submitting Himself to the baptism of John, in obedience
to the Holy Spirit He retreats into the savage wilderness, abides
among wild beasts, fasting from all food for forty days, and devot-
ing Himself to prayer. Then came His encounter with the enemy
of mankind and His endurance of those vile and hypocritical
temptations, in which He taught us how like temptations must be
resisted by the strength of patience and the word of God. His
acts are the seal of His teaching j His patience a great part of His
expiation for our sins.

As the Lord of men He became their teacher, and having the
perfect knowledge of what brings pardon from the offended
patience of God, He taught them how to escape from death to
life. Meeting darkness with light and insults with meekness. His
voice was not heard in contention, but for revilings He gave back
the blessings of compassion. He despised no man's roof. He

ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD. 87

refused not to sit at any poor man's table. He came not to seek
the just, but sinners to repentance. The pretenders to purity
brought this very charge against Him, that He conversed and sat
at table with publicans and sinner^. He was not angry with the
city that refused Him entrance within its gates ; and when some
of His disciples would have Him bring down fire from Heaven, as
Elias did, to revenge the insult, He rebuked them in these words:
" You know not of what spirit you are. The Son of Man came not
to destroy souls, but to save." *

He healed the ungrateful He yielded Himself to His betrayers.
Nor was this much, since He took a traitor into His company,
treated him with habitual kindness, entrusted him with the
common purse, and gave warnings to his conscience ; yet all this
goodness only proved his hardness and ingratitude. Betrayed by
tills man to His enemies, and led like a sheep to the slaughter,
He opened not His mouth in complaints, but bore all that came
upon Him in meek and silent patience. When Peter drew the
sword in His defence. He not only rebuked him with that patience
which is the mother of mercy, but healed the wound that He had
not inflicted.

Was it necessary to heap contumelies upon contumelies, and
lay them on His head, when malice deliberately planned had
already doomed Him to death? Yet, having power to lay down
His life, and power to take it up again, He chose to leave this life
full and sated with the dignity and joy of patience.t

Falsely accused, and that in the name of His Father's law, He
is spit upon, scourged, derided, clothed in mockery as a sham
king, for the entertainment of Jews and heathens alike, and
crowned with thorns that the blood of His brow might exhibit His
royalty. Upon His exhausted limbs He carries the cross of the
criminal with ignominy unspeakable ; and stripped to nudity on
Golgotha, He is crucified before the people whom He came to
save from hell: crucified with every circumstance of cruelty and
torment. How wonderful is the death that has given us life !
How wonderful in humility, in suffering, in patience! How
sublime this deliverance of souls, rescued from death through the
harrowings of the cross ! Behold God hidden in the nature of
man, and that nature is rent and torn to death without a single sign

♦ S. Luke ix. 55-56, + TertuUian. De Patientia,

88 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OJF GOD.

of man's impatience. From this alone should the Pharisees have
known their Lord ; for no mere man could have shown a patience
so divine.

If we enter into the interior of the Son of God, we shall there
find a crucifixion of the soul sustained by a charity most patient
because most divine. Nothing can be so helpful to souls under
interior trials as to enter in spirit into the interior crucifixion of
our Blessed Lord. He thirsts for the salvation of all whom by
His Incarnation He has made His brethren ; and the resistance
that He meets with from the pride of self-seeking wills causes Him
the greatest anguish of spirit. To this anguish He gave voice
when, approaching Jerusalem, He spoke to her people with
lamentations and tears: "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets, and stonest them that are sent to thee ; how often
would I have gathered thy children as the hen doth gather her
chickens under her wings, and thou wouldst not ? Behold your
house shall be left to you desolate.'* ♦

If the souls of the Saints suffered intensely from the opposition
of sinners to the charity that prayed and laboured for their con-
version, how much more did the God of charity suffer in His
human soul, when His light, His grace, and all His sufferings for
the souls of men were rejected and despised. The fire of His
charity consumed Him within, because their hardened hearts would
not suffer it to spread abroad.

It is written that " our God is a consuming fire ".t It is also
written prophetically of the Son of God as the spouse of souls,
that "love is strong as death, jealousy is hard as hell, the lamps
thereof are fire and flames "J And St. Justin the Martyr tell us
there was a tradition in the Holy Land among those who had seen
the disciples of our Lord, that He was wont to say : " Those who
are near to me are near a fire He said to His disciples : " I
came to cast fire on the earth ; and what will I but that it be
enkindled ? And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized :
and how am I straitened until it be accomplished 1 "§ This fire
was His burning charity ; this baptism His fiery sufferings. He
was straitened by His intense desire to accomplish His sufferings
that He might spread the living fire of His charity. But His

* S. Matthew xxiil 37-38. + Hebrews xii. 29, t Canticles viii. 6.
§ S. Luke xii. 49-50.

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ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD. 89

patience held His desires in obedience until the hour appointed
by His Father. Thus was His ardent love of souls repressed and
restrained within Him, until, brought to His baptism of blood, His
love was crucified within Him ; and then by His death He pur-
chased the descent of the Holy Ghost in flames of love upon the
souls of men.

Throughout His mortal life His cross was always before Him,
and He looked upon its nearer and nearer approach not only with
an enduring but with a desiring fortitude and patience. From
time to time, and by degrees. He brought the passion that He
should suffer before the minds of His chosen disciples, not only
showing that His sacrifice was before His mind, but preparing
them for its tremendous realization. He thus commended to
their hearts His supreme love of their souls ; and taught them,
what they only after His resurrection understood to the full, to
return love for love, blood for blood, and death for death. What
else did He teach in His admonitions but that they should take up
their cross daily and follow Him ? On His last journey to Jeru-
salem, going direct to His sacrifice, "Jesus went before the
disciples, and they were astonished; and following were afraid".
And taking the twelve, He began to tell them the things that
should befall Him, saying: "Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the
Son of man shall be betrayed to the Chief Priests, and the Scribes
and Ancients, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall
deliver Him to the Gentiles, and they shall mock Him, and spit
on Him, and scourge Him, and kill Him, and the third day He
shall rise again And the Gospel records the amazement of the
disciples at the ardour with which He went to His sufferings.

The cross is the furnace of love. The patience of the cross
demonstrates the perfection of love. " Greater love than this no
man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friend." t What
was the patient love of Christ, that suffering love of His Father,
that suffering love of our souls, to what did it all tend, but to the
full and firm surrender of His human nature to His Father, through
those mortal agonies, endured with supreme resignation, in the
absolute certainty that He who accepts the sacrifice will glorify the
Victim, and make the oblation of patient love most fruitful ? In
the words of St. Leo, that ignominious death became "the foun-

* S. Mark x. 32-34. + S. John xv. 13.

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90 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

tain of all benedictions, the cause of all graces, giving strength out
of weakness to believers, glory out of ignominy, and life out of
death".* Of this we have a prophetic figure in the riddle of
Samson, who extracted honey from the jaws of the lion he had
slain.

The Sacred Scriptures teach in many places that the patience of
Christ is the principle of His glory. For by patience He per-
fected His suflferings, by patience He perfected His work of love,
by patience He perfected His merits, infinite because He suffered
in the person of God. This great truth is entitled to profound
consideration ; for the sufferings of Christ were perfected by His
patient resignation to His Father's will. And this throws the
greatest light upon the value and reward of all patient suffering,
under whatever cross or trial, endured with Christ for the love of
God.

Our Divine Lord quoted the 109th Psalm in proof of His
Divinity. It is a magnificent prophecy of the prerogatives of
Christ. Its conclusion gives the cause of the exaltation of His
humanity in glory. " He shall drink of the torrent on the way :
therefore shall He lift up His head.'* The Fathers unanimously
assign this verse to His humiliations and sufferings as the cause of
His exaltation. The torrent is the rapid course of human events,
that rush into the current of time with the impetuosity of a flood,
loud-sounding, turbid, and unpeaceful. But death steps in, and
man leaves no vestige of his troubled path. Into that torrent the
Son of God descended, and on the way of His mortal life. He
drank of the turbid waters and endured their bitter flavour with
most loving patience. He suffered the griefs of humanity in their
severest form ; He went into the depth of the torrent in His
passion. He was not refreshed with the sweet waters of delight,
for sin and misery were all around Him ; but drank of those dark
and bitter waters, of which it is said in another Psalm : " The waters
have come in even unto my soul. I am stuck fast in the mire of
the deep: and there is no standing place. I have come into
the depths of the sea: and the tempest hath overwhelmed
me."t

" Wherefore He hath lifted up His head," and the same psalm
proclaims His exaltation and power. "The Lord said to my

* S. Leo, Serm, De Passtone» f Psalm Ixviii. 2-3.

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ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD. 91

Lord: Sit Thou on My right hand, until I make Thy enemies Thy
fdotstool. The Lord will send forth the sceptre of Thy power out
of Sion ; rule Thou in the midst of Thy enemies. With Thee is
the principality in the day of Thy strength : in the brightness of
the Holies : from the womb before the morning star I begot Thee.
The Lord hath sworn, and He will not repent ; Thou art a priest
for ever according to the order of Melchisedech."

On the very day of His resurrection the Son of God taught this
principle to the two disciples on the way to Emmaus. To their
fears caused by His sufferings and death He replied : " O foolish,
and slow of heart to believe in all things which the prophets have
spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and so
enter into His glory ? " *

In his Epistle to the Hebrews St. Paul has also shown that it
was by His patient sufferings that Christ was perfected a high
priest, and received the power to save mankind: ''Who in the days
of His flesh, with a strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and
supplications to Him that was able to save Him from death, was
heard for His reverence : and being consummated, was called by
God a high priest according to the order of Melchisedech'\t In
another and most memorable passage the great Apostle exhibits in
a most striking way how the humiliations and obedient sufferings
of the Son of God were the principle of His exaltation ; and that
with the express object of impressing upon us that if we suffer in
a like spirit of patient and humble obedience we shall be glorified
with Him. " Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus ; who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to
be equal with God ; but emptied Himself, taking the form of a
servant, being made in the likeness of man, and in habit found as
a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death ;
even the death of the cross. For which cause God also hath ex-
alted Him, and hath given Him a name which is above all names ;
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those that are
in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And that every tongue
should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God
the Father.'' %

We are thus divinely taught that the humility and the patience
which subject our wayward nature to the will of God, and keep us

• S. Luke xxiv. 25. + Hebrews v. 7-10. J Philippians ii. 5-1 1.

92 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

steadfast in that subjection through all that we must suffer, are the
preparation, and already contain the seed of the glory that is pro-
mised us. For this reason our Lord exhorts us to take up our
daily cross, and to follow Him with patience. And the two great
Apostles give us each of them a solemn exhortation in the same
direction. St. Paul says : " Let us run with patience to the fight
proposed to us \ looking upon Jesus the author and finisher of
our faith, who, having joy set before Him, endured the cross,
despising the shame, and now sitteth at the right hand of God'*.*
And St. Peter tells us : " If doing well you suffer patiently, this is
thanksworthy before God. For unto this you are called : because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving you an example that you may
follow in His steps."t

These high instructions all go to one point, that as the patient .
sufferings of our Lord were the cause of His glory, the like patience
in sufferings will bring us to His glory. Everything points to
patience as the perfecter of the soul. For charity is patient. If
not patient, it is very imperfect ; it has not brought our weak and
irritable nature into full subjection to the grace and will of God.
We may mortify the body, but of what avail is that if the soul is
not duly mortified. Charity will be left without its firmness and
stability ; nature will reign where God should reign. Hence St.
Paul advises us that we should not look to ourselves, but to God,
for the power of patience, and should exercise it in Christ by
bearing our cross with Him. Let us again hear the ardent
Apostle : " God who commandeth the light to shine out of
darkness hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus. But
we have this treasure in earthly vessels, that excellence may be of
the power of God and not of us. In all things we suffer tribula-
lation, but are not distressed; we are straitened, but are not
destitute; we suffer persecution, but are not forsaken; we are
cast down, but we perish not: always bearing about in our bodies
the mortification of Jesus, that the life of Jesus may be manifested
in our bodies."J And so he prays for the faithful that they may
" be strengthened with all might, according to the power of His
glory, in all patience and long-suffering with joy §

* Hebrews xii. 1-2. + I. S. Peter ii. 20-21. $ 2. Corinthians iv. 6-10.
§ 2 Colossians i. 1 1.

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ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD. 93

The great difficulty in instructing those good people who live
mostly on their own sensibilities, and who obtain the name of being
devout, is that they do not realize to themselves in what devoutness
consists ; for devoutness means devotedness, and devoted ness
means being given to something which is not one's self. The true
sense of devoutness is the being given to God, and not to our own
sensibilities and feelings — the feeling after God, not after one's
self ; for our good is in God, not in ourselves. But we have to
bear with ourselves, and cease being occupied with ourselves, that
we may feel after God. Those pious persons who are attached to
their own soft sentimentalities, that mere milk for babes, cannot
enter into the strong things of the patience of Christ or of His
saints. They will accept it for a truth that patient charity is the
cause and the principle of the future glory, but will mainly look
upon it as the enduring of bodily sufferings when they come,
whether by persecution or by the visitation of God. They will
not realize to themselves that fundamental patience which rests
the soul on God, and establishes order, strength, and peace
within the soul. Engaged with their sensibilities and the troubles
that arise from them, they seem to expect that patience is to
come to them without either effort or combat with themselves.
They never seem to understand in a practical way that this
patience is chiefly concerned with their own interior trials, and
that they can only obtain that perfection of charity, which brings
uniform cheerfulness and peace, by enduring with constant patience
and true resignation both their trials and themselves.

Let us now ascend to the contemplation of the interior pains
and sufferings of Jesus Christ the Son of God. They as far
exceed His exterior sufferings as spirit transcends body. But let
us take with us the light of the principle, that patience proceeds
from charity,

" I will go up into the palm tree and take hold of its fruits.'**
The palm is the symbol of victory and peace. The cross of Jesus
is the most fruitful of palm trees, bringing the greatest peace after
the greatest of victories, won through unspeakable pains and
sufferings. For if Jesus was what the prophet Isaias predicted of
Him, "a man of sorrows, acquainted with infirmity," He was
always victorious by the force of His divine patience. His

♦ Canticles vii. 8.

94 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

spiritual sufferings were incomparably greater than His corporal
sufferings. For in His innocence He was the victim and vicarious
penitent for all the sins of the children of Adam, and so became
the model of all true penitents, as well as the example of resigna-
tion to all who are afflicted with interior desolation. " Surely He
hath borne our infirmities and carried our sorrows, and we have
thought Him as it were a leper, and as one stricken by God and
afflicted. But He was wounded for our iniquities. He was bruised
for our sins ; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and
by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone
astray, every one hath turned aside into his own way • and the
Lord hath lain upon Him the iniquity of us all."*

The griefs of our Divine Lord were not the griefs of sadness ; .
for sadness is the most selfish of human passions. His sorrows
were the sorrows of love and compassion. He grieves over the
multitude and magnitude of the sins by which God is offended ;
He laments over the calamitous condition to which the 'offending
race of Adam has been reduced. His love of those innumerable
souls, whom the Father created through Him, the Word of His
glory, and of whose reason He is Himself the illuminator, is the
cause of all His grief. He beholds those souls, whom no man
can number, gone astray from God into misery and darkness, and
leading a dying life that is in bitter conflict with their instincts for
good and with the light of their conscience, and He pleads with a
strong cry and tears for their return to peace.

Hanging on the cross before His Father, and loving the sinful
world that is crucifying Him with a love only second to the love of
His Father, whilst every sense and fibre of His mortal frame
suffers exquisite and ignominious torture, His afflicted soul is
overwhelmed with grief and desolation. Bearing the vast accu-
mulation of the sins of human nature upon His own most pure
soul for their expiation. He not only sees in His pure light, but
feels through His pure nature, all their foulness, their hideous
deformity, their unceasing accumulation, and their unspeakable
mahce. The mockeries and insults heaped upon His languid head
are but the concentrated expression of that pride, uncleanness, and
insolence with which the ungrateful creature has insulted his
Beneficent Creator throughout the history of the human race.

• Isaias liil 4-6.

ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD, 95

As only divine eyes can penetrate the secrets of human hearts,
the Son of God beholds the miseries of souls whilst their hearts
ferment in wickedness. He sees the blindness of His chosen
people, deaf to the voice of the prophets, deaf to His own voice,
and blind to His light. He sees mankind at large immersed in
idolatries, sunk in vices, dead to the cry of conscience, ignorant of
the stupendous work of mercy that is being accomplished for their
redemption.

Thus, whilst the Divine Victim enters into the evils for which
He suffers. He mourns and grieves over the crimes that rise in
filthy floods against His Father, and over the destruction of in-
numerable souls. But as by reason of His patient charity, the
sufferings of His spirit were in perfect conformity with the Divine
Reason, they were only equalled by His love of souls. Who
can fathom that immense love of the souls for whom He suffered ?
Who can search the abyss of that grief which fills up the chasm
between those fallen souls and God? Who can explore that
divine compassion with which His grieving soul is moved over
His erring brethren ? Who can divine the ardour of his desire to
save them from that everlasting ruin into which their perverted
wills have driven them? "I have a baptism wherewith I am to be
baptized, and how am I straitened until it be accompHshed ! "
Oh, what a baptism of blood, of grief, and desolation J

The Son of God is more deeply wounded in His spiritual than
in His corporal nature. The first wound inflicted is the contempt
and dishonour offered to the Divine Majesty in His person. The
second wound inflicted is the malice with which every grievous
sinner crucifies the Son of God in himself, and makes Him a
mockery. The third wound of His spirit is inflicted by the hideous
deformity of each mortal sin, destroying as it does the good order
and beauty of God's noblest creation. The fourth wound of His
spirit is from the destruction that He foresees of a great part of
His kingdom of grace and of glory by the dark pride of heresy,
and by malicious habits of sin. The fifth and deepest wound is
inflicted on His spirit by the deliberate fall of so many souls from
grace into the eternal abyss of darkness and punishment, although
to save them firom that abyss He is crucified.

We have yet to enter into that awful dereliction and desolation
in which the soul of Jesus is steeped, when He reaches the last
degree of spiritual suffering with the last degree of patience. His

96 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

soul endures the last penalty due to the sins He is expiating in the
abandonment of God. This may be looked upon as the atone-
ment for that pride which is the root of all sin and the cause of
all malice. It may be looked upon in another light, as the
occasion of the divinest patience and of the most absolute resigna-
tion, and as the perfect example to which every soul should be
conformed that suffers the interior pains of desolation. The
beatific vision recedes to the extreme summit of His spirit, whilst
all else of His human soul is invaded by darkness, withered in
drjmess, and drenched in bitterness ; and He exclaims to His
Father : " My God, my God, why hast Thou abandoned me ? "

In the Garden of Olives the Divine Penitent for our sins
breathes forth the agonizing cry : " My soul is sorrowful even unto
death On the cross the Divine Victim of our sins sends forth
the cry of utter desolation. Yet, in that last stage of desolation,
with what a divine fortitude and resignation He surrenders Him-
self to 'the will of His Heavenly Father ! "Yet not My will but
Thine be done." And resting His weary and exhausted soul upon
the Divine Strength for support. He sighs out His life in those
words of oblation and surrender : " Father, into Thy hands I
commend My spirit

In the Garden of Olives the Son of God is in an agony of soul
so fearful, that tears of blood gush from His earthly frame. On
the dolorous way, we behold His patient spirit bending down His
shattered body under the load of the cross, and bearing it along
with invincible fortitude to the place of execution. On Golgotha,
in His cruel denudation and atrocious suspension, we hear His
prayer for the pardon of His executioners. In His interior cruci-
fixion and desolation we contemplate His love for all disconsolate
souls, for whose strengthening He is preparing grace and consola-
tion. In His death He teaches all of us in the midst of our last
sufferings how to surrender up our souls to God. He is the
model of the living and the model of the dying ; the grace of the
living and the grace of the dying ; the love of the living and the
love of the dying ; and all who die to this world in patient love
live through Him for ever and ever.

Were we to contemplate the sufferings of Christ with our whole
mind and heart all the days of our lives, we could not reach the
hidden depths of His patient sufferings and loving sorrows. Nor
could we exhaust the light and consolation which flow from that

ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD. 97

contemplation. God alone knows what He suffered for our sins.
God alone knows all the love and patience with which He suffered.
God alone knows the depths of the tenderness of His divine com-
passion for our souls.*

What men desire to have in this world, and to have above all
things else, is power. If they love money, they love it as an
instrument of power, and as the means of having their own will
and way. But all power is from God ; and the greatest power is
the charity of God. For charity can do all things. It unites
earth with heaven and the soul with God, and gives to the soul
peace in herself and power of well-doing. But the highest power
that we weak mortals can possess is the fortitude of charity, which
adheres with constancy to God, conquers evil, and fills the soul
with good. By the fortitude of charity Christ conquered death
for all, and redeemed the world. It is the power of Christ; and if
we imitate His patience we shall come to His power. Open to
Him your soul, and with His patient charity He will come to you,
and will fortify you against His enemies and yours.

It has been a maxim of the world for some ages that knowledge
is power. Knowledge is not power, but a condition of power.
Knowledge is of the mind, power of the will It is one thing to
know, and another to do. If we act on human knowledge we shall
accomplish human things ; if we act on divine knowledge we shall
come to divine things. But unless the light to know is ac-
companied with strength of will to act according to our knowledge,
that knowledge is in vain ; and to act upon divine knowledge
requires a divine strength. The knowledge which is given us of
the most dear Passion of Our Lord and Saviour, intimate in pro-
portion to our love, is the revelation to our souls of the divinest
love in the divinest patience, enriched with heavenly fruits for all
that hunger for them. But this revelation is a most solemn invi-
tation to us, that we should imitate His patience as much as His
charity; and for this very reason, that without patience charity
never can be perfect, and can never bring us perfect fruits. " He
that taketh not up his cross, and followeth me, is not worthy of
me."t

The grandeur of the patience of the Son of God is a great
argument of faith. It demonstrates His divine power as much.

• See Harphius, Theologia Mystua^ L. i. c. 28. 1 S. Matthew x. 38.

98 ON THE PATIENCE OF THE SON OF GOD.

as His miracles, and must be construed with them. It is not
the reason but the pride of the infidel that is scandalized with a
suffering Redeemer of the world. To put on our nature, to stand
in our place, to gather all the sufferings due to sin upon His own
divine person, to endure them with the divine patience of an infinite
charity, is the loving action of a most merciful God, who thus
teaches us how to convert all our suflferings into virtue, and how
to make them fruitful to eternal life. Bridging over the vast gulf
between heaven and earth, which sin had rent asunder, through
the marvellous union of God with man, He has opened the way
through His own sufferings and death to our resurrection. He
has sanctified all sufferings by His own, and has given us the
power, by uniting our sufferings with His, and by acting with the
grace of His patient charity, to share in His everlasting glory.

Nor is this all; for not only have the patient sufferings of
Christ opened Heaven to us ; but whenever we draw near to the
suffering Son of God, and put our heart into that furnace of love
and patience, we receive a light, an affection, and an unction that
soothes ail sorrows into peace, cleanses the soul from evil, and
comforts her with a cordial strength and an ever-increasing desire
of the Eternal Good. The world is full of mysteries ; the soul is
fun of mysteries ; Heaven is all mystery to us earthly creatures.
But whoever embraces the Cross with open heart finds therein the
explanation of a thousand mysteries.

LECTURE VI.

ON PATIENCE AS THE DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL,
"In your patience you shall possess your souls.**— St. Luke xxi. 19.

E have come to the great problem of our moral nature.

V V What is it to hold our soul in our own possession ? As
we ,have not our resources from ourselves, because we are not
created for ourselves but for God, we cannot possess our soul
except in God. We possess our mind in the light of His truth,
and our will in the grace of His love. Hence when Adam fell
from God he lost the possession of himself. So long as our mind
adheres to God in His truth, and the will adheres to God in His
love, we are in possession of ourselves. But if we follow the
seductions of error we lose the possession of ourselves. And if
we follow the unreasonable impulses of temper, of passion, or of
sensuality that spring up in our inferior nature, we lose possession
of ourselves. As the body depends for its life and health on the
light and air and food, which by the ordinance of God this visible
world provides, the soul depends for life and health on the truth,
the love, and the food of grace which, through the merciful mystery
of our Redemption, the gracious goodness of God provides. And
as our mortal life is only free and self-possessed when we live in
light and air, our spiritual life is only free and self-possessed when
we live in the truth and love of God.

But that we may be able to abide in the truth, the grace, and
the love of God, and to abide in these life-giving gifts with con-
stancy, God has given us the grace of patience, that by forming it
into a virtue we may abide in these gifts with stability, and so hold
possession of ourselves. By patience we hold our soul in the
grace, truth, and love of God. By patience we resist and repel the
invasions of error, of passion, of temptation, and of vice. By patience

lOO

ON PATIENCE AS THE

the will commands and rules the powers of the soul and the
fascinating sensibilities of the body. Patience is the possession of
the soul, enabling the will to keep the soul in peace, and to regulate
her actions and desires by the light of truth and justice, with a
constant view to her final end. But only those who have a great
love of God can have great patience. It is in vain to seek this
invincible virtue for our interior regulation outside of charity.
Even the pagans, with eyes too blind to see the true God, could
discover that patience was the Christian's strength ; and when the
Emperor Titus condemned the Holy Bishop Ignatius of Antioch
to torments and death, he exclaimed : " There is no people who
endure so much for their God as these Christians*'. They
endured much for God because they possessed their souls in God

Impatience is the beginning of every movement that takes
away the soul from God, and so from her self-possession. For
every evil begins by yielding to some irritation, provocation, or
seduction that breaks into the fence of patience, which guards the
good and peace of the soul ; and so the way is opened for the soul
to wander away from the light of truth into the delusions of the
imagination, from the law of justice into the base ways of sensu-
ality, from peace of conscience into the whirlpools of passion,
and from the love of God into the saddening pits of self-love.
Patience is the fence of the soul ^ and within the fence of
patience the whole choir of the virtues flow in harmony and
peace, and unite in the praise of God. But impatience is the
destroyer of that securing fence.

St. Gregory may be here invited to assist our explanation.
" The soul," he says, " holds possession of herself by patience,
because patience is the root and guardian of the virtues. In
learning to govern ourselves, we begin to possess that very thing
which we are. This patience must not be looked for in any
visible display, but in the heart But by the vice of impatience
even that light of learning is dissipated by which the virtues are
nourished ; for, as it is written in the Proverbs, * The learning of a
man is known by his patience We know, then, that when a
man is less patient he is less instructed. Solomon has also
taught us to what a height this virtue should be carried, where
he says: *The patient man is better than the valiant, and he

* Proverbs xix. ii.

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DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL.

lOl

that goyems his spirit than he that taketh cities'.* A victory
over cities is the less of the two, because it only brings into
subjection what is outside of us. There is a great deal more of
victory in the patience that conquers one's self, because when the
soul establishes herself in humble endurance, she commands her-
self, and is the subject of her own will."

The great Doctor of morals then proceeds to illustrate his teach-
ing by the example of Abbot Stephen, who had governed a
monastery close to Rhieti, and whose life and death were well
remembered and much talked of in his time. Of rude speech
but learned life, this holy man despised all things here below for
th } love of Heaven, and would have nothing in the world of his
own, but gave himself to long and frequent prayer. The lov^ of
patience grew to such a vehemence in his soul, thr-t he looked upon
any one who gave him trouble as his friend. Contumelies he
repaid with thanks; and if any one injured him in his deep
poverty, he reckoned it among his gains. He welcomed every
adversary as a helper to his soul. When the day of his death
drew on, numbers of people hastened to him, hoping to commend
themselves to that holy soul before it quitted the body. Some
with their mortal eyes saw angels visit him but dared not speak ;
others saw nothing. But such a fear came over all that, they dared
not remain to interfere with his recollection at the peaceful hour
of his departure.t

But the law of patience is one thing, the practice is another.
God gives the law and the grace to fulfil the law; the exercise
depends on the resolution of the will. He who commands us to
love God above all things commands us to possess our souls in
patience, that we may be in a condition to love God above all
things. And as it is the work of patience to establish the soul in
order, unity, and peace, it needs little reflection to understand
that such a state of soul can only be acquired by observing certain
rules and following certain methods of self-discipline. In this
respect virtue is a certain art that calls for the judicious regulation
of our powers. Those who are trained to exhibit their physical
prowess with a view to victory have to abstain from many things,
to command their temper amidst the greatest provocations, and to go
through severe exertions regulated by fixed rules ; and St. Paul

* Proverbs xvi. 32. + S. Greg. Mag, Horn, 35 in Evangel.

I02

ON PATIENCE AS THE

has more than once brought forward this example to illustrate the
spiritual combat with ourselves. It is an arduous struggle in
which everything depends on self-denial, self-command, and well-
directed efforts, according to the rules delivered by the saints. The
prize is our present well-being and eternal happiness.

But when we come to examine individual souls, many who
have the grace of patience have no method worth speaking of for
its exercise. To speak plainly, they strive at random, a sure sign
of habitual impatience. Their patience is little better than a
vague sentiment hanging loosely in their souls, and is easily blown
aside by the breath of provocation or temptation. Some will tell
you that they never can follow any definite rule, but do their best
in their own fashion. If they have a way, they must have some sort
of rule ; but this commonly means that they have but little know-
ledge of what real patience is, or of what it is able to do for the
soul. Let them adopt but one rule and do their best to follow it,
and they will soon feel the want of more. It is lamentable to see
how many souls there are desiring the better things of virtue, who
yet never put themselves under effective regulations for obtaining
them. There can be no great progress in any virtue without
progress in patience. But these good people, so good in desire,
waste their lives in a romance of unshaped wishes instead of
striving by rule for the solid realities of virtue.

There must be light before there can be reasonable action ; and
therefore certain principles should be fixed as lights in the mind
to enlighten and animate the will in the regulation of its conduct
We shall first give the principles and then the rules of patience.

First Principle. — There is an order in patience which is the
same for all persons, because all souls are made alike, and all have
the same nature to overcome, and that order gives the rules for its
exercise. It is a primary truth that human nature is weak and
irritable, and that it has become much weaker in its moral powers
through sin; but patience is the virtue that strengthens this
weakness. How does it strengthen us ? What is weak is made
strong by being united with what is strong. As the body cannot
put forth its energies unless it have a firm ground on which to
rest and firom which to put forth its powers, neither can the soul
put forth her powers of virtue without a firm foundation on which
to repose and from which to act. Without such a foundation of
repose the soul is restless, unquiet, and changeable. It is revealed

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL.

103

to us that God is our patience and our fortitude ^ He is the frrm,
immovable, and unchangeable patience, on whom resting we
shall not be moved. It is therefore the first and essential rule of
patience to adhere with constancy to God, and to rest ourselves
upon His divine and unchangeable strength for our foundation.
Another great reason for adhering to God is that we may receive
from His goodness the grace that breathes strength into our nature.

The Lord is my firmament, my refuge, and my deliverer,"* sings
the Psalmist. And again : " I have lifted up my eyes to the
mountains, from whence help shall come to me. My help is from
the Lord, who made Heaven and earth. May He not suffer thy
foot to be moved." t

Second Principle. — ^The will is the spring and originator of
all our free and responsible actions. The action of all the other
powers, even that of the mind, depends upon the action of the
wDl, which is the prime mover of all. It must therefore be re-
membered that the patience of the other powers, and of the whole
soul, depends on the patience of the will. But, as we have
already explained in a previous lecture, the will has two kinds of
action ; it either puts forth its action to what it desires, or refuses
to put forth its action to what it does not desire, and therefore
concentrates that action within. For example, the will puts forth
the hand to receive something that is good or useful, or turns the
mind to some beautiful truth, or puts forth the affections to some-
thing worthy of affection. But the will gathers up its strength
within when it refuses to act in any evil or disorderly direction.
For example, when it refuses the eye to temptation, or to give the
affections to what is unworthy of them. It was the will of Eve
that touched the forbidden tree and plucked the forbidden fruit.
Had she kept her will in her own power, she would have kept her
patience, and therefore kept her will at one with the will of God.

But that movement of the will by which it refuses to enter into
irritation, provocation, or temptation, and refrains itself from them,
is the principal sphere of patience. By patience also the will re-
fuses to enter into sadness, that miserable slough, which is nothing
but the dregs of defeated self-love.

On its more active side patience sustains the will from wavering
in its good purposes, so that its good actions may be calm, reason-

* Psalm Kvii. 3.

Psalm cxxi. 1-3.

X04

ON PATIENCE AS THE

able, resolute, and complete ; neither distracted on the one hand,
nor weak through hastiness or irritability on the other. This is
the type of patience which we see in our Blessed Lord, and by
imitation in His saints. At this we have to aim ; and though we
may have many failures before gaining habitual steadiness, patience
comes in here to endure those feilures, and to turn them into
useful lessons.

Third Principle.— It will greatly help us in managing our
interior if we clearly understand and keep in view that our
spiritual faculties have two sides, a superior and an inferior side,
or we may call them an interior and an exterior side, in virtue of
which they look in opposite directions. All our spiritual faculties
are united in the essence of the soul, and meet in the will, where
the light of God illuminates them, and His grace strengthens
them. On their superior or interior side, therefore, they look
towards God. The more, therefore, we are recollected interiorly,
the more we can look towards God, and be united within our-
selves through His light and grace. But on their inferior or
exterior side our powers divide like the fingers of the hand to
their exterior offices, and communicate with the body, with its
senses, appetites, and passions, and through them with the exterior
world. But in communicating with them, our spiritual powers
communicate with the weakness of the unregenerated body,
through which the temptations of the world, the devil, and the
flesh are apt to irritate, trouble, and pervert the powers of the
soul, to weaken her spiritual force and defile her.

The chief, then, or superior side of the Christian soul is rooted
and grounded in the light, grace, and strength of God. But the
exterior or inferior side of our powers is expanded like the
branches of a tree into manifold communication with the sensual
body and the sensible world. But as the sap and life of the tree
spring from the root which is hidden and nourished in the
ground, so the soul, having her spiritual root in God, is by Him
nourished with life. The more, therefore, the spiritual powers are
opened and concentrated on their interior side upon God, be it
mind, will, or desire, the more they receive of that divine light
and grace which ground the soul in fortitude and patience, and
the more able is the will to resist the incursions of evil.

We may strengthen this exposition by the words of Albert the
Great in his explanation of the fortitude and maturity of the soul.

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL.

105

" True and perfect fortitude," he says, " consists in the internal
government of the soul ; so that whenever she is tempted to
pride, envy, vainglory, self-complacency, or sensual delight, the
mind withdraws its attention and the will its consent. The office
of this virtue is to strengthen the understanding in the knowledge
of God, and the affections in the love of God, and, consequently,
of our neighbour. When the soul is thus fortified, she neither
fears adversity nor is softened into weakness by prosperity.'**
Showing again how patience and fortitude are brought to ma-
turity, the same great religious thinker says: "That true and
perfect maturity of soul consists in collecting the forces and
affections of the soul upon God with a unanimous recollection.
By this means the soul is kept from vanity, and the five senses are
held aloof from intruding their allurements upon the soul. But
when the soul recoils from this blessed union with God, she is
caught in the net of vanity ; for, as Ecclesiasticus says, *all things
that are under Heaven are vanity '."t

This collecting of the spiritual powers on the centre of the soul
looking towards God, and obtaining the sense of God, is properly
called recollection. It is founded in prayer, and carried by
patience from prayer into the active duties of life. But so far
from interfering with those duties, it gives a mental clearness, a
prudence, and a force that render those duties most efficient

Fourth Principle. — As the strength of Christian patience is
the gift of God, and the virtue results from our industrious exercise
of that strength, it is essential that it should be united with
humility. First, because without humility we cannot be subject
to God so as to receive from Him the strengthening gift of
patience. Secondly, because God gives His grace to the humble,
and not to the proud. Thirdly, because without humility we shall
trust to some imaginary strength of our own, and so be deceived.
For the proud are hollow-souled, and, whilst making an exterior
show of self-possession that is altogether fictitious, are inwardly
restless, irritable, and impatient

The Fathers teach from their great experience that humility and
recollection are essential to patience. St. Gregory calls patience
the humility of endurance; St Ambrose gives patience as the

♦ Albertus Magnus, De Virtutibus^ c. De Fortitudine.
t Ibid. c. De Maturitaie,

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ON PATIENCE AS THE

evident sign of the presence of true humility. Abbot Piomon
says in the Conferences: "True patience and tranquillity are neither
obtained nor preserved without deep humility of heart * St.
Bernard says: "We must always hold that humility is the guardian
of purity and the mother of patience ".f St. Francis of Assissium
proclaims that "where patience is, there is humility; there is
neither anger nor perturbation "4 And St. Bonaventure teaches
that " the patience which ordains the soul to eternal life is born of
charity and humility We might quote many other authorities,
but these will suffice to fix this important principle in the mind.

Fifth Principlk — ^The last principle to be mserted in the
mind is of equal importance with those already set forth. Every
virtue is perfect in proportion to its patience ; every act we do,
whether interiorly or exteriorly, be it act of mind or act of will, is
perfect in proportion to its patience, and every work we accomplish
is perfect in proportion to the patience we put into it. " Patience
hath a perfect work," says St James, " that we may be perfect
and entire, failing in nothing.'' || But, as St. Zeno observes,
patience is chiefly concerned in perfecting the virtues. It perfects
both the workman and the work. Nature is hasty and inclined
to hurry ; light and grace, like their Divine Author, are calm and
deliberate.

The temperaments of constitutions are different . some are
quicker and some slower ; but we should never run before our
light, or we shall be left to our natural obscurity ; nor should we
hurry on before the movements of grace, under penalty of being
carried away by self-will into rashness and imprudence. In other
words, in whatever we say or do, we must not lose our self-
possession. We must not let the busy imagination carry off our
attention and desires from our present work and present duty. If
we do, we fall into an impatience that confuses the mind, troubles
the will, injures our tranquillity, and blemishes the work in hand.
With our Christian light, we ought never to be the victims of that
delusion, so common in the world, that only things of a certain
visible bulk, show, and dignity are worthy of patient care and
solicitude. For the perfection of the workman is for more im-

* Cassian. CoUat. 1 8, c. 13. t S. Bernard. De Ordine Vita, c. 6.

:|: S. Frauds, Assis. Opuse, c. 6.
§ S. Bonaventura> De Profedu Religios, L. ii. c 36. || S. James i. 4.

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL,

107

portant than the perfection of the work. The greatest thing for us
is the perfection of our own soul ; and the Saints teach us that this
perfection consists in doing our ordinary actions well. But we do
them well when we do them patiently and lovingly, a method
which, though at first laborious, with custom becomes delightful.

To put the whole relation of patience with charity theologically,
it is not the habit or exercise of patience alone that gives perfection
to our actions, but it is patience proceeding from charity, and
working in the spirit and abundance of charity. In short, it is
charity bearing all things and enduring all things. All aversions
that have impatience or passion in them are contrary to the love
of God, and the patience of charity casts them off by refusing to
entertain them. Sufferings have to be endured for the love of
God, but it is the patience of charity that endures them. We
have to perfect our ordinary actions for the love of God, that we
may be perfect in our human way before our Heavenly Father, as
He is most perfect in His divine way. But it is the patience of
charity that makes our actions perfect.

First Rule. — ^The first rule for acquiring this virtue is to hold
its value in great estimation, and to have a great desire of it
This desire will be best entertained by reflection and meditation
on its inestimable value, both for removing evil and obtaining
good. It is for this reason that we have enlarged so much upon
its indispensable necessity for the perfecting of charity, and for
making real progress in perfection of life. The mere reading of a
book will do little, however, towards generating this desire, unless
its truths be well digested by reflection and assisted by prayer.
Another great help to this desire will be to observe how much we
fail from our best intentions and best endeavours after the virtues,
solely because of our want of patience. A virtue so precious can
only be perfected by sustained and vigorous efforts, and tliese
come of earnest desires and strong motives.

Second Rule, — ^The second rule is to begin the exercise of
patience with our own interior, and to direct our chief attention
to the controlling of our interior powers. For this virtue must be
strong at home before it can be strong abroad. By its very nature,
as resting on the internal strength of the will, it can only proceed
from the interior to the exterior. The whole secret of it lies in
the government of the will : if the will is patient the whole man
will be patient. This is what spiritual writers call the custody of

io8

ON PATIENCE AS THE

the heart, and what St Ambrose calls the temperance of the
heart. The heart is the seat of the affections and the organ of
the will. So long as the tremulous heart is kept in the custody of
the will, and is recollected in the sense of God, outward provo-
cations will have no power over it, whether they come from the
irritation of the senses or from external troubles. In a word, by
the heart the Sacred Scriptures signify the interior and central
spirit of life, which looks to God and adheres to God.

The Proverb says : " With all watchfulness keep thy heart, be-
cause life issues out from it Upon this custody of the heart
the Psalmist never ceases his song. It would be tedious to crowd
these pages with references ; but whoever is familiar with the sacred
psalmody will remember that God is there represented as watch-
ing the heart of man. And the heart of the just man watches
unto God He maketh the heart of each one separately. That
is, God maketh the good which every single heart possesses. He
is also called the God of my heart and my portion for eternity.
His law is in the middle of the heart ; and they who return to the
heart return to God. He says to each one : " My child, give me
thy heart " ; and when it is given to Him He speaks to the heart,
enlightens the heart, searches the heart, proves the heart, heals
the contrite of heart, and saves the humble and just of heart The
meditation of the heart is in His sight : the hope of the heart is
set upon Him : the prayer of the heart ascends before Him, like
incense in His sight : and the sighs of the heart go up to Him^
seeking His mercy and His love.

The just man under trials is exhorted to expect the Lord, to do
manfully, to let his heart take courage, and await with patience
the coming of the Lord. When prepared to hope in the Lord, his
heart is strengthened, and shall not be moved until his enemies
are vanquished. In meditating with the heart the fire of love is
enkindled, the heart is liquified, faints from itself and fiows unto
God, and exults in the living God. Then is the heart disposed to
make ascensions, until the God of gods is seen in Sion.

But all this exercising of the heart under the custody of the will
is the movement of life towards life, and is the work of that in-
terior and fundamental patience of charity, with which our central
life adheres to God, and protects the divine good within the soul

• Proverbs iv. 23.

Digitized by

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL.

109

from the disturbing intrusions and burglarious thefts that are per-
petrated by anger, concupiscence, or sadness. The more the
heart is recollected in God, the more sensitive will it become to
the least intrusion of things tending to disturb its peace, and the
more firm in refusing them an entrance within the soul, whether
they come in movements of irascibility or of inordinate desire ; so
that by gathering up the will, that inordinate movement may drop
defeated for want of entertainment

Third Rule. — The surest test of the custody of the heart
will be found in the government of the tongue. Let thought go
before speech, not speech before thought This is an admirable
discipline of patience. For that small member the tongue, full of
nerve and sensibility, is rooted close to the brain, the magazine of
our animal sensibilities, fancies, and passions, and is as touchy and
inflammable as a magazine of powder. It is therefore quickly set
on fire by the inferior instincts, sensibilities and passions, before
reflection and judgment intervene with their control. For unless
by patient watchfulness the animal man is kept under the strict
control of the superior man, under its restless and misguided in-
fluences the tongue will break out into all sorts of irritabilities,
vanities, and follies. It is by the patience of recollection that the
will restrains those blind, vicious, and silly emotions that become
^cts through the ready pliancy of the tongue. Quick are the
motions of fancy and sensibility, quick through the electric sym-
pathy awakened by the tolling of other tongues, and rapidly they
find expression, making revelations of the vanities within. Where
the soul is undisciplined by watchful patience, the mind in conver-
sation is soon thrown off its guard ; the emotions that start before
reason or judgment get the ascendency, and the will becomes in-
volved in vanities, irascibilities, detractions, and scandals.

Hence St James compares the ungovemed tongue to a fire
that once enkindled makes a great conflagration. It catches one
inflammable material after another that lurk within the speaker,
sets his neighbour's house on fire, and the contagion spreads from
tongue to tongue in exaggerations far and wide. Not satisfied
with this figure to express so great an evil, the Apostle says again:
"It inflameth the wheel of our nativity" He compares the
tongue to that birth in evil that like a wheel whirls away the man
from God ; for a restless tongue, like a rapid wheel, whirls him
anew into the evil from which he has been regenerated by a better

ON PATIENCE AS THE

birth. Again he calls the tongue "an unquiet evil". It is the
great disturber of our peace, and of the peace of other souls. But
the remedy of unquietness is patience. Observe the careful
method of St. James. First he lays down the principle that
"patience hath a perfect work". Next he gives the test of this
principle in the government of the tongue. " If any man offend
not in word, the same is a perfect man. He is able also with a
bridle to lead about the whole body," ♦ The bridle is the instru-
ment of restraint ; it figures the restraining power of patience.
The man who can bridle his tongue with patient charity can
govern his whole person.

Silence is strength, and the proverb calls it golden. Much
talkativeness is the sign of a feeble mind, and an undisciplined
will. Stobaeus tells us that when that acutest of philosophers,
Aristotle, was asked the question: What is the most difficult
thing for a man to master t he replied : To keep silence on
things on which it is best to be silent. St James says that no
man can tame the unquiet tongue. He thus leaves us to Solo-
mon's conclusion: "It is the part of man to prepare the soul,
and for the Lord to govern the tongue ".t Man prepares his soul
by subjection to God ; God gives the grace of patience by which
the tongue is governed. " Be thou, O my soul, subject to God :
for from Him is my patience."

The tree is known by its fiiiits, and man by his speech. Hence
the saying of the ancients : Speak that I may know thee. Our
Divine Lord has therefore given us this rule : " Out of the abun-
dance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of a
good treasure bringeth forth good things : and an evil man out of
an evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you,
that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an
account of in the day of judgment." J From this it follows that
the evil tongue comes from evil dispositions, and consequently
that the watch over the tongue should be directed to the heart
A light, foolish tongue, careless of another's feelings, is the proof
of levity in the heart. A vain, conceited, boasting tongue is the
sign of a vain heart. A flattering tongue betrays the spirit of
hypocrisy. An impatient^ irritating tongue is the sure token of

* S. James lii. + Proverbs xvi. i, j S. Matthew xii. 34-36.

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL.

an intemperate heart A calm, sincere, and prudent tongue is the
clear indication of a heart that is patient from self-discipline.

Fourth Rulk — The fourth rule of patience is to keep all
things in their just and due order. That order should first
appear in our own interior and our interior exercises; next in
our exterior and our exterior duties; then in our personal
surroundings. Justice is another name for moral order, that
order which God has established in His laws. Hence the pro-
verb that order is Heaven's first law. All the virtues are the
servants of justice, that is, of order. The soul says of Christ in
the Canticles: "He hath set charity in order within me".*
There is no beginning of order in the soul without charity, which
orders the soul towards her final end. Every other kind of order
is subordinate to this first principle of order. Where charity is
begun, observes St. Augustine, order is begun ; the perfection of
charity is the perfection of order. But charity is perfect when all
the affections are in their due order and subordination to the love
of God. The object of patience is to keep the soul from disorder
and her acts from disorder; and of that external order which
reflects internal order, St Paul saysi "Let all things be done
decently and according to order ".t

Order, again, is that primal law by which God regulates His
works, adjusts them to one another, establishes harmony among
them, and makes them good, useful, beautiful, strong in their
kind, and suited to their ends. Order is therefore the perfection
of the creatiu*e. The type of all order is in the mind of God ;
and God has placed a law of order in the mind of man, following
which he may perfect himself, and whatever depends on his will.
If he neglects this law of order, he is weak, confused, and less
happy, or altogether at discomfort ; because disorder is always
feeble, always irritating, even though it reach not the deformity of
sin.

"Order is defective," observes St. Augustine, *whcn there is
less of order than there ought to be ; for when order is not where
it ought to be, and in the manner in which it ought to be, there is
still disorder. Where there is some order there is some good,
but where there is no order there is no good." % The absence of

* Canticles it 4. 1 1. Corinthians xiv. 40.

X S. August De Naiura Boni, c. 23.

Digitized by

112

ON PATIENCE AS THE

all order belongs to that land of darkness and misery^ where^ says
holy Job, "is the shadow of death, and no order, but everlasting
horror dwelleth".*

To quote St. Bonaventure : "The soul that is wisely disciplined
should observe a well-regulated order everywhere and in all things.
To the well-regulated mind the beauty of order is not only most
becoming but delightful. To be careless about the order of
external things is the sign of an ill-regulated mind."t What
patience is to our individual actions, order is to the whole chain
and succession of our actions, giving them their completeness,
perfection, and as much merit as they are capable of receiving.
But who does not know that to keep to this good order is the
work of patience ? To lose patience is the beginning of disorder.
True order is the result of that disciplined thought and deliberate
self-control in which patience is the chief and the ruling element.

It takes a great deal of patience to keep our own interior in
order, and not a little of that virtue to do everything in its proper
place and time, and in the best way of which we are capable.
Some persons have a natural love of seeing everything well-
disposed around them ; but if anything becomes deranged, their
fretting shows that they have not the same love for internal order.
They love exterior more than interior beauty, and take a pride in
it, as something that may give them credit in their neighbours'
eyes. The true order of the interior man is to ascend from
sensible to spiritual things, and, when engaged in external duties
and affairs, still to keep an internal hold of those spiritual lights
and motives that give value to his external works. The due
ordering of the interior soul is to keep her centre recollected in
God, and so to use her powers and her corporal members that
they may be the instruments for the performance of her duties.
She ought never to throw out the central soul upon anything, that
there may be no departure from the basis of her strength. If we
lose that calm and collected centre for a time, it must be re-
covered as soon as possible. For when the will is united with the
light and will of God it becomes easy, with a little patience, to
restore order everywhere else. A good interior order will produce
a good exterior order, for when the will is well regulated it can
regulate everything else well

* Job X. 22. + S. Bonaventura, Speculum DUciplintz,

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL, 113

Of exterior order the most beautiful examples are to be found
tin he Church of God, where a divine order of things is externally
expressed under the guidance of the Holy Spirit Much the
same may be said of the well-regulated condition of religious
houses, when they reflect the rule in the lives of their inmates.
Such external order is very helpful to interior order, because it
engages the senses on the side of order and law. The same may
be said in its degree of every other kind of external order.

Fifth Rule. — The fifth rule is to bear patiently with those
whose tempers are infirm, and to endure their tempers with
charitable kindness. This rule is given us by St. Paul : " Now
we that are stronger ought to bear the infirmities of the weak,
and not to please ourselves. Let every one of you please his
neighbour unto good, to edification. For Christ did not please
Himself, but as it is written : The reproaches of them that re-
proach thee fell upon Me."*

It is shrewdly remarked by Cassian that weak spirits are quick
to imagine wrongs, and prompt to inflict insults and injuries,
whilst never suspecting that they are themselves in fault. Having
but little knowledge of themselves, they use the licence of offence
without misgiving, yet cannot endure the least rebuke themselves.
Their irritability and impatience is like a painful malady, which
gives them great disturbance, the cause of which they cannot see.
It never enters their mind that in charging their sufferings to their
neighbours they make themselves a pitiable spectacle. Yet, not
unconscious of the pain they inflict, they mistake their weak com-
plainings for a kind of power over others, careless of self-respect,
careless of charity.

Such infirm spirits are the victims of sadness, and have need to be
borne with in great patience, prudence, and charity, like the sick
in body or mind. To retort upon them would be to mistake
their case and increase the infirmity. To avoid them would
be to abandon charity, and to forfeit a gain to one's own
soul, because they offer an opportunity to the virtues of patience,
charity, and self-conquest It will not do to answer them in words
of affected gentleness, which instead of appeasing will only en-
kindle a greater conflagration. Nor will it do to let them know
that you look upon them with compassion, and bear with them

♦ Romans xv. 1-3,

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114

ON PATIENCE AS THE

patiently: this would be to assert a superiority provocative of indig-
nation. But in your heart keep patience and in your voice
cheerfulness, and let your words be prudent, few, and kind.
Think not of your own, but of what may be profitable to that
infirm spirit Remember how that heart is suffering in secret, and
will suffer more when the excitement has passed away. So shall
you reap the fruits of patience in charity, and help to heal that
suffering soul. Saints have sought to be the servants of such
irritable souls with a view to their self-discipline and perfection,
and have finally brought them to meekness and peace.

When we are associated with the sick or infirm of body, their
sufferings and complaints awaken no bitterness in us ; we know
that we are liable to the like infirmities. Hence we have a tender
and charitable care of those who are thus afflicted. Why, then,
should we be irritated with weak and infirm souls, unless we wish
to catch the contagion of their infirmity? The needs of their
condition call for charity. God endures them; and they suffer
from their infirmity. If in His mercy He has given to us a greater
self-control, the gratitude of our patience requires that we should
endure what we cannot cure; and whilst bearing the trial we
should ask Him to heal what is beyond our remedies.

Sixth Rule. — The sixth rule is to manage our own infirmities of
temper wisely. The provocation may arise within ourselves, or may
come from the voice or conduct of another. Whichever it may be,
the true cause of evil temper is always in one's self. It arises
from want of control over our inferior nature, that is to say, over
our imagination and sensuous emotions. The imagination, moved
by self-love, generates fears and suspicions of wrong or of humilia-
tion that are hateful to our pride ; the untamed blood swells into
excitement, the nerves become agitated, and self-love adds its
sting ; then our reason becomes clouded, the folly of the sensual
man is predominant, and passion has its sway. Anger is a brutish
thing, and has been rightly called a transient insanity. It corrects
nothing, it protects nothing, it accomplishes nothing but disorder
and evil.

Quick temper has a double sting: it stings the heart and stings
the tongue. It suffers a double loss — loss of sense and loss of
peace. Just and deserved rebuke moves from right reason with
authority to correct pride and persistent disobedience or wrong.
But anger moves from offended self-love, in which our own de-

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL.

luded imagination is commonly the chief offender. When another
is the real offender, not anger but patience is our true protector.

One who is habitually recollected in God cannot easily be moved
to anger. Resting the soul on her divine foundation, he enjoys a
peace which makes the soul quickly sensible of the first move-
ments of disturbance, and quick to turn from them, so that they
cannot take hold of the superior soul. But in less recollected
souls the true method of self-management is this : the moment
that irritation and disturbance are felt to rise up in the inferior or
animal nature, let the mind turn to God and the will follow the
mind : you will then keep your soul in your own possession, and
that brutal commotion, left to itself, will sink and die for want of
encouragement. You may then look upon it, and even suffer it
to appear again, and see by the light in your mind what a con-
temptible thing it is, and how happy you are to be free from it.
Thus by the habit of looking on your evil temper with contempt
as a brutal weakness and a vile deformity, you will become the
master of it.

The Psalmist gives this rule: "I was troubled, and I spoke
not," * which he thus expands in another place : " I said, I will
take heed to my ways : that I sin not with my tongue. I have
set a guard upon my mouth, when the sinner stood against me." t
This guard is less the silence of the lips than the patience of the
heart, until the will obtains the mastery. The power of the will
over the movement of the senses is immense, provided we look to
God, and dwell on some high motive on the first appearance of
rising temper.

Seventh Rule. — This rule of patience is given by St. Paul :
" Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil by good ". % The
evil that conquers our patience may come of our own ill-nature,
fancying wrong where it does not exist, or from brooding in melan-
choly self-discontent, a base feeling that makes us displeased with
every one and everything around us ; or it may come of actual
provocation or wrong inflicted; or, what is most common, of wrong
imagined to have been inflicted upon us. In any of these cases
the first thing is to recover our temper and good spirits, and return
to charity. The second is to be kind and generous, whether we
have only injured ourselves or another has injured us — ^to over-
come evil by good.

* Psalm Ixxvi. 5. f Psalm xxxviii. 2. X Romans xii. 21.

ii6

ON PATIENCE AS THE

There are no worse evils than sadness and melancholy, because
they reject the cure of every other evil. Sadness is a malady that
unhinges the spirit, contracts the heart, and brings down the
powers of the soul into the caverns of self-love, where their light
is obscured, and the virtues are buried in sensuous slime. A dark
shadow hangs over the mind, and in that shadow self-love paints
melancholy images of herself, that flatter her as if she were some
great victim of wrong. The will is chained a captive to this self-love,
and the soul is unnerved by illusions that exhale from the malignant
humours thrown up from the oppressed and saddened spirit of
wounded and defeated pride.

But it is amazing with what a little effort this illusion may be
dissolved. It seems to be an immense, unconquerable, immov-
able nightmare seated on the soul. But when the eyes open the
nightmare melts away. It requires but an effort of the awakened
will to disperse the whole illusion ; and the Poet of the Spleen
has found a re-echo from the common sense of mankind to his
famous sentence: "Throw but a stone, the giant dies". Some
little effort to expand the contracted heart will dissolve the spell.
The malady consists in the collapse of the powers upon the bitter
ground of egotism and self-love : the cure is effected by breaking
out of that corrosive shell in which the spirit has become enclosed,
just as a puncture draws off the humours of a dropsy. The first
effort may be Uttle more than mechanical, still it is an effort of the
will, and, followed up, will soon become an act of reviving charity.
A smile, a kind look, a gentle word will suffice to open the cloud,
and admit a ray of light that will dispel the delusion, and show
that it was but an idle dream of mischievous self-love.

When we are exposed to provocation or offence, then is the time
to hold back the will with firmness until we are sure of our self-
possession, and that we can proceed untouched by the fire of
anger. The Proverb of Solomon gives us the plainest language
on the subject : "A fool immediately showeth anger : but he that
dissembleth injuries is wise When another contradicts you or
exhibits resentment, it is time to remember the apostolic admoni-
tion : " Give place unto wrath," t the sense of which is explained
in the Proverb : " A mild answer breaketh wrath : but a harsh
word stirreth up fury ".J To reason with anger is to show a light

• Proverbs xii. 1 6, f Romans xii. 19. % Proverbs xv. i.

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL.

117

to the blind ; it is taken for reproach, and will only increase irri-
tation. But mild looks and gentle words subdue the fire of wrath
as with a spiritual charm, and will save us from catching the con-
tagion. If you can follow this up with benefits you will overcome
evil with good. In mastering yourself you will master evil as well.

Eighth Rule, — The eighth rule of patience is to bear your
internal trials, crosses, and aridities with peace and resignation.
These are far more trying than external tribulations, because of
the fears which they awaken respecting our eternal interests ; as
also on account of the sadness which they will give rise to, if not
borne with patience, and which, if it does arise, will greatly un-
nerve the soul, and impede, if not injure, the spirit of prayer. Few
souls, when under trial, take sufficient account of the injury they
do themselves by those disquieting fears and that disturbing sad-
ness. Consider then how important it is to be patient when you
are dealing with God Himself. When you are inwardly tried or
made desolate, for the purification of your soul, the whole profit
depends on your patience and resignation. You have to be
patient with God, who is patient with you. But of this we shall
speak at large when we come to the subject of patience in prayer.

Ninth Rule. — ^The ninth rule of patience, and one of very
great importance, is to bear patiently with one's own faults and
failures. Faults call for regret, and sins for contrition and repent-
ance. But they ought not to awaken the impatience of pride, or
the fear of not being forgiven upon true repentance ; for this is to
mistrust the goodness of God, and to open the doo: to new faults
and graver offences. Unless we bear our failings with patience
they will lead us into numberless faults. It is extraordinary how
many spiritual faults may be committed over one material fault.
That one fault may be indeliberate and devoid of malice, but if it
humiliates one's pride and vexes one's self-love, it will annoy us,
make us impatient, disturb our peace, and thus lead us into a
number of spiritual faults.

We either know something of our natural weakness or we do
not. If we do not, it is time we learnt it, and our faults and
failures will be our instructors if we can only bear them patiently.
But if we do know something of ourselves, we ought not to be
surprised, and still less disturbed, when we fail, but should ascribe
it to our having trusted too much in ourselves.

But if instead of being humbled and corrected by our failures,

ii8

ON PATIENCE AS THE

we turn them into temptations, and nurse our offended self-love
upon them, these accidental feilures will be turned into posi-
tive offences through the spiritual disorder to which they give
occasion. We thus put the soul into a disturbance and disorder
that never came of the original fault, but of the trouble of self-
love. To be patient with one's self after a fault is to keep in
the right disposition to correct and repair it. To lose patience
over a fault is to part with the remedy by which it can be repaired.
There are moments when we cannot bear the recollection of a self
long past. Who has not experienced those quick flashes of morti-
fied pride at the sudden recollection of some long-past act of indis-
cretion or folly? They reveal what lurks hidden and untamed in
the soul.

If through weakness of nature or wandering of mind our self-
possession is lost for a time, a sense of privation and discomfort
begins to be felt, and then patience must be called upon to recover
us to recollection. Yet it is not by turning upon one's self, not
by dwelling upon one's failures, as they are displeasing to self-love,
not by indulging impatience that any failing can be cured, but by
turning to God, who is patient with us, who knows our fiame,
who remembers that we are dust, who is compassionate of our
weaknesses, and has mercy on our follies : it is by turning to Him
as a child to a father, simply, and without prudery, that we find
the medicine that our weakness requires : " Be thou, O my soul,
subject to God, for from Him is my patience

Tenth Rule. — The last rule is that of the perfect, who find a
cheering joy in trials, contradictions, and sufferings ; not only be-
cause they are great helps for advancing towards God upon the
groundworks of humility and patience, but because they can find
nothing more conducive to detachment from all that is not God,
nothing more effective in subduing their nature to the reign of
grace. They delight in bearing upon them the marks of Christ
crucified, in carrying their cross after Him, in suffering with Him,
for the exceeding love of God, St Paul rejoiced in all his tribu-
lations, and gloried in nothing save Jesus Christ crucified. St.
Francis found the perfection of holy joy in contempt and humi-
liations. These are but examples of the ways of the Saints. But
this is a degree of fortitude more than human, a singular gift of the
Holy Ghost, by which the superior will is so closely united with
God as to remove all repugnance to suffering ; and that hallowed

DISCIPLINE OF THE SOUL. 119

will embraces things that are even contrary to nature with a cheer-
fulness to which the sensuality of nature can make no effectual
opposition, even though they come suddenly and without prepara-
tion.

Digitized by

LECTURE VII.

ON PATIENCE AS THE PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES.

" That on good ground are they who in a good and very good heart,
hearing the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit in patience." — S» Lttke viiL 15.

'T^HAT perfection of life consists in doing our ordinary actions

X well is one of the wisest maxims of the Saints. Those
duties make up the chief sum of our lives during the time allotted
to us in this world. As we owe our life and time to God, the
good Christian has duties at all hours ; even the time which is
properly given to recreation and health-bestowing repose requires
to be regulated by the virtues, and therefore comes under the
name of duty ; and that all the more^ because it is the time most
exposed to insidious temptations. It is seldom that we are called
upon to do great actions or to endure great sufferings ; but when
the hour arrives for them we shall be able to go through them
in a great and generous spirit in proportion to the perfection with
which we perform our daily duties.

The perfection of our ordinary actions depends on high
motives, good will, and cheerful patience. High motives give
them their value before God; good will makes them vigorous;
cheerful patience makes them orderly, peaceful, effective, and
pleasant. For what gives our actions their value before God is
not their visible magnitude, their publicity, or brilliancy, but the
purity and elevation of their motives, and the generosity with
which they follow the light and comply with the will of God.
They are ennobled by the sacrifice of nature to grace. Hence the
poor man who goes to his daily toils with good will and cheerful
patience for the love of God is a much nobler person in the sight
of God than the man who, firom mere human motives, shines with
splendid actions in the sight of the world. The one acts on a

PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES, 121

divine principle, the other on a human one; the one has his
heart with God, the other with the world ; the one lias God for
his friend, the other has the applause of men ; the one may have
a rude exterior, but is inwardly refined by converse with God and
His Saints ; the other may have the outward polish of social life,
whilst his interior is a moral chaos.

The love of God dignifies the humblest work and the humblest
workman. "What a breadth and elevation belongs to the soul that
can unite the lowest work that is done on this earth with the
highest motive that reigns in Heaven I By His Incarnation and
human life the Son of God has glorified the lowest things of
human life and labour that are undertaken for God's sake.
Labour thus motived has received a special dignity from the
patient toils of the Son of God in the workshop of Joseph. How
the humble things of God confound the proud judgments of the
world! That pagan philosopher was not far wrong, who, when
asked what God was doing, replied : " He is putting down high
things, and lifting up low things," words that remind us of the
whole tenor of the sublime Magnificat

We may accept it as a principle that whatever we do is perfect
in proportion to the self-possession with which we do it, and that
self-possession is proportioned to patience. Let us first take the
labours of the mind. St. Zeno observes, with great truth, that
without patience we can neither learn nor teach. It will even com-
pensate for certain deficiencies in the power of apprehension, and
will greatly help the power of memory. Whether we learn from
men, books, or things, it is the virtue of patience that steadies
attention, and frees the mind from what interferes with or disturbs
attention. Painstaking, in short, is patience. It is patience that
gives to insight the ability to penetrate through the details of a
subject to its principle. And this is the act of study, first to
reach the principle of the subject through the details of its state-
ment, and then by the light of the principle to understand the
details, and hold them in the mind as they stand related to that
principle. For to learn a subject thoroughly is to possess it in the
mind in that order in which it exists, and to know it by the
principles on which it depends. For it is the first principle of
each subject that sheds light upon all the details that belong to it,
and when that is possessed by the mind it is not difficult to under-
stand and remember the whole. But without a good deal of

122

ON PATIENCE AS THE

patient attention it is impossible to ascend from details to their
principle, and so carry the light of that principle throughout the
details.

Understanding is proportioned to attention and reflection;
memory is equally proportioned to attention and reflection. In
his celebrated treatise on man, Buffbn insists that patience is the
foundation of genius. Some undiscovered truth looms obscurely
and as from a distance on the mind. Thus far it is little better
than a vague and indistinct conjecture ; the mind looks and looks,
waits and waits, in patient expectation of more light. At last light
suddenly flashes on the understanding, and your pen cannot go
fest enough to record the discovery. We should rather say with^
Plato that genius is an original power of apprehension, and that
patience is the discipline in virtue of which that power of apprehen- •
sion obtains its success. Sir Isaac Newton ascribed his success in
discovery to the protracted patience which enabled him to think
longer on a subject than other men had done. When asked by
what means he had arrived at his discoveries, he replied : " I keep
the subject constantly before me, and wait till the flrst dawning
opens slowly, by little and little, into a full and clear light".
Again, in a letter to Dr. Bentley, he says : " If I have done the
public any service in this way, it is due to nothing but industry
and patient thought ".

The greatest defect in modem teachers of science even in our
own schools is the neglect to teach their pupils the right use of
their faculties. This was done in the college where the writer
was trained some sixty years ago by occasional visits of professors
to the students in their rooms, when both logical and moral
methods were explained in a kindly way and adapted to each
one's capacity and progress. Such kindly visits were always an
enjoyable relief as well as a friendly help.

The patience required of a good teacher is proverbial Such
a teacher requires a double patience — patience with his pupils
and patience with himself. Unless he have patience with his
pupils he will never get at the measure of their capacity or
attainments — ^will never put them at their ease, secure their ar-
tention, or control their restlessness. He must have patience
above all with dull and uresponsive heads, leading them step by
step as far as they can go, and not expecting from them what is
beyond their power. He must also remember that where their

PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES. 123

will is good they often suffer much from the consciousness of their
deficiencies and require encouragement rather than further humili-
ation. But when pride accompanies superior intelligence, it is
apt to be unjustly harsh and discouraging. The quick-witted
oftener require the bridle than the spur to save them from
overrunning their subject or turning their minds mto devious
paths.

Unless the teacher have patience with himself he will be
unable to secure the respectful attention of his pupils, and will
commit notable errors against method in his teaching. He must
keep back much of his knowledge and not let it come before its
time, that is, when his hearers are prepared for its reception.
Knowledge communicated before it can be knitted into the
knowledge already possessed perplexes and confuses the mind
and gives occasion to discouragement. Hence great thinkers are
seldom well suited to teach the elements of knowledge, their own
last thoughts occupying them much more than the first thoughts
of their pupils.

Both kinds of patience are essential to sound judgment in
teaching. A cheerful patience conciliates attention and awakens
interest ; a kind and genial patience inspires affectionate con-
fidence, and is the best means of securing a loving and industrious
response to the labours of the teacher. Young people are quick
to discern where strength of will is covered by a kind and
sympathetic interest in their progress; and on both sides at-
tention and painstaking are proportioned to the kindly patience
which the teacher possesses and inspires. In those higher
branches of study, where abstruse science is concerned, the true
professor will not confine himself to his lectures, but will take a
kindly interest in each one's progress, and give him those private
helps which may enable him to use his mind to the best advantage.
It is wonderful how much a slow mind may be encouraged by
such help and sympathy.

In every occupation and pursuit success depends on taking
pains. But painstaking is only another word for patient and
persevering industry, which always costs more or less of pain to
our nature. This pain arises from the restraint imposed upon
the restless senses, from the resistance that attention gives to the
tendency of the mind to wander, and from the fatigue resulting
from the tension of the nerves and faculties after a certain length

124

ON PATIENCE AS THE

of time. Whatever may be the aptitude for any special pursuit —
be it study, art, teaching, management, government, or manual
work of whatever kind — the chief moral ingredient of painstaking
is patience. It may therefore be taken as a maxim that every
work is perfect in proportion to the amount of patience put into
it Here we have all the difference in art between mechanical
and manual productions. Beyond the original design of the
inventor, what is produced by machinery is as dead as the machine
itself, whilst manual work vibrates with the life, mind, and ima-
gination of the artist, and offers some expression of the loving
patience given to the work. The one is a material, the other a
moral production, and what delights us in the last is the ex-
pression which it conveys to us of mind, will, and feeling.

In his description of the virtue of patience, St Bonaventure
includes the willing and unconquerable endurance of labour with
a view to the eternal glory. This implies the putting of the
Christian virtues into our work in their due proportion to its
character. Nothing, however trifling, can be done well without
good judgment There are fifty ways of doing anything, but
only one perfect way. Judgment is an act both of mind and
will — of mind considering, of will deciding what is best. But
nothing is rightly judged where personal fancies or selfish feelings
are allowed to mix in the consideration of it ; they warp the
judgment and confuse the object under consideration. Whether
in work, in employments, in the management of affairs, in
doing justice to others, or in the offices of kindness and charity,
patience is required to secure sound judgment Nature is always
inclined to hurry, to run before judgment, and avoid the least
pain of suspense. But grace is deliberate and conscious of
responsibility, keeping down selfish feelings and excitements that
deliberation may be just and prudent

To work with judgment is to work with intelligence ; but this
implies thinking before acting, and delaying when needful, until the
right way of acting is understood. To work fruitfully is to work
with a patient will ; fretful haste damages both the work and the
workman. There is no healthy energy without endurance. Haste
is waste ; and there is much truth in the adage : " The more hasten
the less speed Lord Bacon gives the saying of a shrewd old
man of business, who, whenever he saw any one in restless hurry
over his work, interposed with the remark : " Wait a little ; there is

PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES. 125

no time to lose All good work bears upon it the impress of
judgment, painstaking, and patience ; and everything we do reacts
upon our own moral character. What we do well is embalmed
with the motives and virtues with which it is done ; what we do
poorly or reluctantly leaves us personally all the poorer.

Patience is especially needed where some knot or entanglement
comes up in our work. For when we are in the swing and
content of our employment, such interruptions are apt to worry
and tease the mind, and put us out of time and temper. The
very triviality of such unexpected impediments becomes a cause
of annoyance, and will interrupt our calmness with irritation and
impatience. It offends our self-complacency to be stopped by
trifles in the full course of action, and calls for a little more
patience than at the time we are willing to give. But let this be
observed, that those rubs and teasing impediments are valuable
moments for self-discipline, and that to use them well is no
trifling thing. They who are patient with obstacles will be patient
when the work runs smoothly. Such hindrances are in the nature
of the work, and there is no reason for being offended with them,
although many people, like unreasoning children, get angry over
the innocent work when the fault is in themselves.

What has been said of work, whether mental or manual, is
equally applicable to persons. Their interruptions, interferences,
and meddlings are often trying to human nature, and require the
patient management of the will to save us from inward perturbation.
When unexpectedly interrupted in matters of gravity, or in which
we are interested, we require no little patience to save us from
being internally annoyed and vexed; and to be thus suddenly
called off from one thing to another, or from one unfinished duty
to another, is often trying to an undisciplined temper. There are
few greater proofs of a well disciplined interior than to be able to
break off at any time with cheerfulness from one duty and to turn
with equal cheerfulness to another, however unexpected the inter-
ruption may be. It is an effect of that detachment of will that
comes of patient charity.

The management of affairs embraces the prudent guidance both
of persons and of things, so as to keep right order in things, and
observe justice to all persons concerned in them. But to establish
right order in things confused, and to keep right order in things
that tend by their nature, or through human negligence, to disorder.

126

ON PATIENCE AS THE

demands much patience as well as judgment. Where affairs are
complicated or obscure to the mind, owing to want of information,
impatient haste will only augment the difficulty, and prudent delay
will bring them sooner to an end ; whilst consultation will greatly
contribute to their elucidation. For when we have recourse to
consultation^ it is not only the light we obtain from others that
helps us to see more clearly, but the greater light we elicit from
our own minds, by speaking the subject out, than we are able to
get from merely revolving it within the mind. Whenever the
interests of others are mixed with our own, unless patience is there
to withhold the mind from selfish motives and restrain the will
from selfish emotions, justice can scarcely be fairly dealt to all
concerned. The same interior rule will hold good in the dis-
tribution of kindness and attention to those who have claims on
our encouragement ; patience must withhold the will from all pre-
occupations, prejudices, and preferences of favouritism.

Lord Bacon has wisely said that " patience and grave hearing
are essential to justice". When a superior has to deal with
accusations or complaints, the first thing to be done is to put the
mind in a judicial position, so as to hear the statements on both
sides with a mind divested of all colour and bias, and thus take a
purely objective view of the case until the matter is investigated
and the facts are made clear. This is the patient charity of justice,
which acts not from passion but from reason, and makes large
allowances for human limitations and weaknesses where there is an
absence of malice and scandal. For mercy should ever be exalted
above judgment where the heart is submissive to authority.

That our offices of kindness and charity may have all their
sweetness, beauty, and consolation, they must proceed with direct
simplicity from the love of God in the heart. The love of God is
the most earnest and practical of all things ; and when it is devoted
with sincerity to the service of our neighbours it places us in a
sublime position that has more of Heaven than of earth in it ;
and the value of our kind actions is greatly heightened by that
patience which conquers every repugnance in our own nature.
In its principle the love of God embraces the love of all mankind \
in practice it embraces all with whom we come in contact, and
whom therefore we call our neighbours. But its most fruitful
exercise is towards those who, owing to their ignorance, sufferings,
or distress, stand most in need of our loving help. God loves

FERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES. 127

each and every soul with an eternal love so great that He has
constituted Himself the supreme object of their love and happi-
ness ; and when, with great cruelty to themselves, they seek not
their happiness in Him, He still continues to be to them the
sovereign good that they ought to seek. Then what nobler
charity can there be than to help their return to their sovereign
good? God is patient with all souls and good to all souls ; and
we enter into His charity when we imitate His patient love
towards all that come within our sphere of action.

By nature our affections are attracted to some persons, are
indifferent to others, and are drawn back with dislike and re-
pulsion from others, often on slender grounds. But our Divine
Lord makes His gift of charity as expansive as His own, that it
may embrace every creature that He loves, and for whom He
died. That the gift of charity may be extended to all. He has
added to it the gift of patience, that by its aid we may conquer
every repugnance that might otherwise rise up in our nature to
hinder the expanse of charity. And that through patience we
may carry our charity to its full extent and raise it to its most
ennobling height. He has given us this law : " You have heard
that it has been said : Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate
thy enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, do good to
them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and
calumniate you : that you may be the children of your Father
who is in Heaven, who maketh His sun to shine upon the good
and the bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust."* But
this law of supernatural charity invites us to a triple conquest and
a triple triumph over the hardness of our nature ; a conquest by
endurance over the wrongs inflicted upon us; a conquest by
patience over the repugnances of our nature ; and a conquest by
generous love over those enmities of nature which contract the
heart, that it may expand in charity to those who love us not.

That this sublime love, which raises the soul to God and makes
us like to Him, may have its generous sway, unimpeded by our
irritable nature, unopposed by the repugnances of pride, un-
checked by the loathings of self-love, God has placed the strength
of patience within the fervid gift of charity, as the pith and
marrow of this heavenly virtue ; that whenever nature rises with

* S. Matthew v. 43-45.

128

ON PATIENCE AS THE

its selfish fears and disgusts against the expansion of the heart in
charity, patience may be ready to resist the swelling repugnances
of pride, and leave to charity its generous sway.

Every duty calls for more or less of care, that is, of attention
and consideration proportionate to its nature. Matters of graver
importance, especially if they present difficulties, call for solicitude,
that is, for a wakeful and watchful attention and thoughtfulness.
In a mind well regulated by patience these are peaceful operations
that cause no disturbance to the souL There is indeed a care
and a solicitude for the things of this life against which our Lord
gives us solemn warning, because they choke the divine seeds of
life and grace implanted in the soul, and reverse the due order of
things, which requires that we seek first the kingdom of God and
His justice. But this is a solicitude that belongs more to anxiety
than to peaceful watchfulness of mind.

Beware of anxiety. The very sound of the word anxiety is
painful. Next to sin, there is nothing that so much troubles the
mind, strains the heart, distresses the soul, and confuses the judg-
ment. It is worthy of remark that the words anxiety and anger
dome from the same root ; they are both derived from the Latin
verb angercy to overstrain or strangle, which in its substantive form
is angoTy which means anguish or vexation. Anxiety is the uneasi-
ness and trouble of mind to which we give way because of some
difficulty of which we cannot see the solution, or because of some
uncertainty respecting oneself or another, or because of some
future event of which we are uncertain. It is more than uneasiness
and disturbance, more than solicitude and trouble ; it is attended
with fear and perplexity, and inclines the soul to sadness. It has
a certain paralyzing influence, compressing the soul with the
ligaments of fear, suspense, and uncertainty, that impede and
stifle the freedom of her powers. St Gregory describes it by a
strong figure as " strangling the throat of the mind A modern
writer has described it as " fright spread thinly through the soul".

Anxiety is not in the things about which we are anxious ; it has
its existence in a combination of passions raised up in the soul.
It is caused by taking our solicitudes and uncertainties into our
own interior, and there making them the subject of our troubled,
disquieted, and overstrained feelings ; the result of this being that
the mind is obscured and the heart made restless, so that no clear
judgment can be formed on the subject of our disquietude. In

PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES. 129

some respects anxiety has a considerable resemblance to scrupu-
losity : it produces a like obscuration of mind, a like torturing
pain of heart, a like fear and suffering from uncertainty, and a
like troubling of the soul's peace. Scrupulosity, is in fact, one of
the most painful and disturbing kinds of anxiety. Some persons
are by nature anxious, as others are by constitution scrupulous ;
and in both cases there is a tearing and a wearing of the spiritual
man, and what St. Gregory in a strong figure calls " the strangling
of the throat of the mind Hence St. Francis of Sales has ob-
served that anxiety is the most injurious of all things to the soul,
next to sin.

There is but one remedy for anxiety, and that is by using the
firm force of patience to keep the objects of our solicitude in their
proper place, and that place is outside of the feelings and before
the mind. For it is not the feelings but the mind and will that
are the true judges of things. When the feelings get mixed up
with any subject of solicitude, they turn into passions, and become
eager, excited, and restless ; they confuse the mind and blind the
judgment. We know when we are thrown into this state of
anxiety through the trouble and disturbance of the soul and the
obscuration and uncertainty of the mind. When we find our-
selves in this state of troubled uncertainty and indecision, the
subject of our anxiety should be dismissed altogether from the
mind for a time, that it may be resumed when the feelings have
subsided and the mind is clear. This, again, is the work of
patience, and one that requires no little firmness of will, because
if the eagerness, curiosity, fear, and restlessness which stir up
anxiety are not altogether suppressed, it will be impossible to
recover serenity of mind and tranquillity of soul. Then suspense
itself is painful, and especially when assaulted by any of the above-
named passions ; and this, again, demands enduring patience.

But when we have obtained a calmer temper and a better
control of our feelings, on returning to the subject, it will be for
patience to keep the feelings in subjection whilst the will puts
forth the attention of the mind without disturbance. When
things external to us are thus kept in their external and proper
position outside the soul, they are much more capable of being
seen through, understood, and dealt with. What is not seen
through on a first consideration will be seen through on a second,
or on a third, provided the mind is not troubled with the passions

130

ON PATIENCE AS THE

of anxiety. But if difEculties still remain, it is then time to have
recourse to some prudent adviser, who, from his more independent
position, may be able to see into the case more dearly.

Besides the anxieties which fret and injure souls on account of
external persons and things, there are but too many that have
their origin in internal troubles, owing to the want of interior self-
discipline, and of that interior patience which is the keeper of
peace. But for this kind of anxiety we have given rules in various
parts of these lectures ; and they not unfrequently require obedi-
ence to a wise director. All that we shall say further at present is
this, that every advancement in humility and patience removes
the causes of anxiety and trouble, because they all have their roots
in the restless impatience of sensitive self-love.

St Francis of Sales has written so wisely on the spirit in which
we should manage our affairs that nothing so good can replace his
maxims. He observes that the care and diligence which we owe
to our duties are things very different from anxiety and eagerness.
Our Guardian Angels have diligent care of us ; this belongs to
their charity. But they are not anxious, they are not eager with
excitement, for this would interfere with their peace and happiness.
Be careful, be diligent in all that is committed to your charge.
God has entrusted these things to you and expects you to manage
them with great care ; but avoid as far as possible all disquietude,
anxiety, eagerness, and hurry, because these disturb the soul's
peace, trouble the reason and the judgment, and hinder things
from being well and successfully done.

Our Lord did not rebuke Martha because she was diligent in
His service, but because she was " solicitous and troubled about
many things Nothing done with eager excitement can ever be
done well. Flies are not formidable by their strength, but by
their multitude : so great affairs give us less trouble than smaller
affairs when they are numerous. Take them up in peace, and in
their order, one by one ; for if you try to take them altogether, or
in a disorderly way, they will oppress you, they will dishearten
you, and you will do nothing that is effective and satisfactory.

In all your affairs and responsibilities rest wholly on the provi-
dence of God, who alone can bring your plans to a happy con-
clusion. Yet do your own best in a peaceful way to follow the
guidance of God's providence ; and then be assured that if your
trust has been in God, whatever success you may obtain will be

PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES. 131

all the more profitable to yourself whatever you yourself may be
inclined to think of it.*

The reverse of eager solicitude and disturbing excitement is
found in sadness and sloth. These corrupt and corrupting vices
are directly opposed to patience as well as to charity ; they stagnate
the soul and corrupt its fruits.

The Fathers and the Divines of both the Eastern and Western
Church include these two vices under the one name of acedia, thus
intimating that sloth and sadness go together. St. Bonaventure
gives another reason why they are both expressed by the same
word : because they are both enemies of religious devotion. In
its primitive sense the word acedia signifies a fainting or failing
through weakness. But here it signifies a fainting of the soul
through the weakness and languor that is caused by the vice of
sadness. Charity delights in spiritual and divine good; but
slothful sadness sinks the soul into self-love and egotism. There
it breeds an antipathy to all divine and interior good, and the soul,
whilst adhering to sensual self-love, is unwilling to rise from it to
seek the divine good and adhere to it with love ; so that there is
even a certain loathing of that good, owing to the corruption of
the spiritual appetite by the disease of self-love. Hence this vice
is opposed to charity as well as to patience. When it destroys
charity in the soul it is mortal ; when it only weakens charity it is
venial. But even in its venial form this vice of sadness is very
enfeebling, and so subtle in its movement, that pious souls are
often deceived by it, and mistake sadness for regret over their
failings and deficiencies. But sadness proceeds firom self-love;
regret from the movement of grace.

Sloth is defined to be a torpidity of soul neglecting to begin
what is good ; sadness is defined by St. Thomas to be a weariness
of, and a moroseness with respect to, internal and spiritual good, to
which these words of the Psalm are applicable : " Their soul ab-
horred all manner of food^.f In our catechisms it is placed as
one of the capital sins under the name of sloth, and is called a
capital sin or vice, because it is the head or immediate cause of
other sins or vices. For, as the effect of charity is spiritual joy,
the effects of sadness or spiritual sloth are malice, spitefulness,

* See S. Francis of Sales, Introdiiciion a la Vie Devote, Parte 3me, c 10.
t Psalm cvL 18 ; S. Thomas, Be Malo, q. 11, a. I.

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132

ON PATIENCE AS THE

pusillanimityi despondency, torpidity, and wandering of the mind
from good to evil thoughts. Such is the fertile brood of brooding
sadness ; all its offspring partake of its moral deformity.

If we put together what the Fathers say of sadness, it is an un-
nerving grief and a wearing anxiety of soul that hinders cheerful-
ness, extinguishes spiritual joy, makes prayer insipid, and spiritual
duties distasteful, whilst it issues in a sluggish and impracticable
temper, and produces the immoral and unhinging disease of sloth.
What we are told of St Gall is equally applicable to all the saints :
** He was joyous in action and bland in speech, because sadness
was a stranger to his heart". We are informed by St. Gregory in
his Life of St, Benedict that one of the disciples of that
patriarch of religion had given himself up to Satan through the
vices of sloth and sadness ; but the Saint applied such a prompt
and severe correction that the disciple was delivered from both
vices at once.

The cause of sadness is either wounded pride, or disappointed
self-love, or unreasonable anxiety. Cassian distinguishes two
kinds of sadness, one of which follows upon exhausted anger, or
upon some injury received or imagined to have been received, or
upon having been hindered or defeated in something that we
desire. The second kind descends as a distressing load upon
the heart from unreasonable anxiety or despondency of mind.
Like a worm within the soul this miserable vice gnaws and con-
sumes the joy and strength of the virtues, whilst the soul herself
contracts and shrivels up like a leaf attacked by blight. To quote
its accurate description from Cassian: "Sadness makes the spirit on
which it seizes bitter, impatient, obdurate, full of rancour, full of
pain, grief, affliction, and despondency. It breaks down exertion,
stands stupefied against the entrance of healing sorrow and re-
pentance, destroys the efficacy of prayer, and empties the soul of
the fruits of the Holy Ghost."

Under the influence of this morbid languor loneliness is preferred
to the converse of society, so that self-love, which is the loneliest
of things, may be fostered in brooding melancholy. For, notwith-
standing the pain of the malady, a gloomy pleasure is extracted
from the intense egotism that sadness generates. The mind
swarms with unpleasant fancies and delights in odious com-
parisons. The bright cheerfulness of others is looked upon with
sinister eyes, as if it were an insult to the misery which the sad one

PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES, 133

loves to cherish. Whilst sympathy is longed for, it is felt to be
odious, because pride predominates, and to pride the sympathy of
others takes the shape of commiserating our weakness. Peevish-
ness and sullenness are the first steps into sadness, and already
partake of its obstinacy and gloom.

Sadness is opposed to spiritual joy, and patience is- opposed to
sadness. The sorrow which is according to God has nothing of
sadness in it 3 it is a healing sorrow, that^ as St. Paul says : You
may suffer damage by us in nothing," because, as the Apostle con-
tinues, "the sorrow that is according to God worketh penance
steadfast unto salvation ".* Like convalescence after sickness this
sorrow is full of comfort and consolation; the vital powers are
reviving under its influence and restoring the glow of charity.
''Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." t

But whilst the sorrow of repentance expands the soul into life,
the sorrow of sadness contracts the soul and closes her in upon
herself, swathes her with the bandages of bitter self-consciousness,
and shuts out all generous movements. There she feels herself,
tastes herself, loves herself, and is unhappy on that which feeds
her. The remedy for all this misery is to break out by some reso-
lute act of will from the delusion to which the soul is bound by
the clammy unction of self-love. A puff of wind breaks the soap-
bubble, and an act of kindness breaks down sadness.

It is justly observed by St Bernard that a diversity of occupa-
tions is a great remedy for sadness. This is happily provided for
in the rules of religious life. But in every state of life the principle
of variety should be consulted. Variety refreshes both mind and
body, and prevents too much self-absorption. Change of occupa-
tion and change of surroundings bring change of mind, relieve the
system, and restore its balance.

One cannot too much insist upon the duty of keeping all cares
and solicitudes outside the heart and feelings, of holding them
firmly in their objective position, and of making them solely the
objects of the mind and judgment It requires a good strong habit
of interior patience to withstand their seizing on the affections, but
this shows the extreme value of interior patience. For unless we
have this interior patience, so that we can take them up and lay
them down at will, our solicitudes and cares will become anxieties,

* 2 Corinthians vii. 9-10.

t S. Matthew v. 5.

134

ON PATIENCE AS THE

will harass, wear, and obscure the mind, and greatly disturb the
peace and serenity of the souL How many persons have suffered
both mental and moral derangement owing to this want of patient
method in managing their cares !

There is one form of sadness which is criminally prolonged by
dwelling persistently on the memory of some great affliction, loss,
or disappointment, to the unhinging of the soul and the neglect of
present duties. The image of that event is kept before the mind
with all its circumstances, and is allowed to oppress the heart until
the features bear the fixed stamp of a cherished sorrow. What is
worse, that fond entertainment of saddened memory prolonged
through the years is mistaken by the mourner for virtue, as it
seems to imitate the virtues of constancy, endurance, and perse-
verance. The understanding is misled, as well as the heart, by
this enduring strain of self-love and sadness. But this is a sin
against the providence of God, whose hand is in all events;
against the soul herself, whose powers it unnerves and depraves ;
and against that cheerful performance of our duties, for which the
soul loses her freedom by brooding on events past recall.

It may be taken as a maxim that whatever fosters selfishness
disposes the soul to sadness. There is a habit of self-introspection,
too much indulged in by many well-meaning persons, that is dis-
astrous to the spirit of religious cheerfulness and generosity. Self-
knowledge is invaluable; yet it is not obtained by peering into
our own darkness, but by seeing ourselves as we are reflected in
the divine light. We shall never find what we are by dwelling in
our own troubles, and making them whilst we are dwelling in them,
but by getting our mind above them, and dwelling on the goodness
of God, when that divine goodness will teach us what we are by
comparing ourselves with Him. But when we dwell upon our-
selves alone, and dwell in ourselves apart from the view of God,
the truth is hidden from us, and we feel nothing but discourage-
ment. Souls that act thus cling to themselves, discouraged,
saddened, and disheartened. With their eyes bent upon their
own breasts they see but themselves, and that in the shallowest
way ; it is only by looking to God that they can see themselves
truly. " Know yourself," says St Catherine of Siena, '* not in
yourself, but in God, and God in you." Then will you find
what in the sight of God you are.

Much and solicitous occupation with one's self produces much

FERFJlCTER of our daily duties. 135

consciousness of one's self, and this breeds a sense of self that
greatly interferes with the sense of God. It gives not the true but
a fictitious sense of one's self through means of the imagination,
so that we alternately hug our self-complacency and our miseries,
instead of looking with cheerful confidence to God for their
remedy. For instead of cleaving with the heart to God, such souls
cleave to themselves with self-love, and suffer more from the sub-
tleties of sadness than they know, They are afraid to quit the
sandy shores of their nature, and to leave the sense of themselves
behind them, that they may launch forth in generous faith and
confidence upon the ocean of God's goodness and mercy.

Moreover, this incessant self-introspection and consciousness of
self greatly impedes the spirit of duty as well as of devotion.
These laborious self-inspectors cannot have that *^ very good heart
which, hearing the word of God, keeps it, and brings forth fruit in
patience For that very good heart is unselfish, open, loving,
patient, cheerful, generous, ''seeking not her own, but what is
profitable to many," and diligent in all duties for God's sake.
This clinging to self-consciousness leaves patience defective,
humility defective, and charity defective > for how can one be
subject to God, or adhere to God, when internally engaged with
the feeling of one's self? Rolled up into one's self like the snail
in its slimy shell, the soul can neither open herself to God nor to
her neighbour. She is too much engaged with her selfish feelings
to look to God with serene eyes, or to feel after Him with a loving
heart. And that soul suffers: suffers from internal corrosion,
suffers from depression and sadness, suffers from irritation and im^
patience, suffers from the want of a diviner air to breathe in, suffers
from anxiety and loss of cheerfulness. But the cheerfulness of
patient charity, better than all those anxieties of self-introspection,
better than all those cleavings of self-love to self, would keep away
temptations and evil, and purge the fancy of its megrims. The
irritability which in idle and self-conscious persons produces so
much disorder would find its legitimate escape in useful works and
services, consulting the health both of body and soul.

Labour disciplines the will to patience and endurance. Endur-
ance ! what a power is expressed in that word I Endurance holds
the will with firmness to God despite of every discouragement
that moves in our nature. Endurance bears up the will in patience
against every pressure of disagreeable and mortifying things. En-

136

ON PATIENCE AS THE

durance holds the soul intent on her good works, and resists every
temptation to quit good for evil. Endurance holds high the will
above the movements of irritation, fear, or disheartenment, and
by its solid strength repels the degrading solicitations of our animal
nature. Endurance stands firm and loyal to the love of God
amidst trials, disgusts, and sufferings. Endurance holds back the
soul from the grasp of sadness. In a word, endurance bears all
things that must be borne with, regardless of the pain and pressure
of the time. And by the virtue of patient endurance, the gift of
God, we possess the government of our souls, and keep our peace-
ful recollection in the face of all our adversaries.

But, as we have so often repeated, and cannot too often repeat,
because it is the fundamental principle of all that we are teaching,
this patient endurance entirely depends on the adhesion of the soul
by her centre to God^ which must be maintained amidst the duties
of life and in our combats with our trials. The soldier, well
drilled in the use of his weapons and the movements of the field,
is always ready for battle. Confirmed by the strengthening grace
of the Holy Spirit, we are the soldiers of Christ ; and by the daily
exercise of patience and endurance we are prepared for the hour
of trial, which for us is the hour of combat. To be unprepared is
to ensure defeat When passion has swollen to its height, it will
listen neither to rule nor reason. Pride and folly are its only
counsellors. To use Plutarch's illustration, a man in the swell of
passion is like a house on fire, full of smoke, noise, and con-
fusion; he is deaf to everything but the din and clatter of the
flames that rage within him. But when, like the falling wrecks
of that fire, his passion sinks down into sadness, it fills his soul
with choler, bitterness, and moroseness j the will is displaced and
does dismal things.* But whoever is well disciplined in interior
patience will detect and quell the irritation before it can develop
into passion.

The great remedy for sadness is prayer. For as sadness arises
from a morbid clinging to one's self, prayer is the most effective
way of detaching one from that inordinate self-adhesion, and of
drawing us off from one's self to God ; whilst it obtains the grace
to overcome this vile clinging to one's own disorder. ** Is any one
of you sad," says St. James, " let him pray."t But as it is in the

♦ Plutarch, De Ira.

+ S. James v. 13.

FERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES. 137

nature of sadness to loathe the remedy of prayer, this can only be
begun by an effort, and by beginning with vocal prayer, which, as
the soul becomes freer and more detached from self, will lead to
mental prayer.

There is a quality of endurance which, owing to its great value
as a discipline of the soul, calls for special remark. That quality
is the power of waiting. Whenever the mind is anxious, or in a
state of suspense and uncertainty, it finds that state painful and
restless, and has a disposition to rush out of it into action. But
as this action is without due light and is unreasonable, it is sure to
commit us to some folly. A soul that is patient waits with calm
endurance for light before acting, and in virtue of this calm and
patient endurance suffers no pain or anxiety, because the soul
possesses herself and waits for light; and when the mind waits
patiently for light, sooner or later it is sure to come. Trials of
mind affect us more deeply than pains of body, and if we give way
to anxiety such trials become troubles, and are immensely in-
creased. But this cannot happen to those patient souls, who, re-
gardless of human respects, feel that they are in the hands of God,
and are encircled with His fatherly providence, and that all things
are in His disposal. When we see not our way through some trial
or difficulty, we have only to look to God, and to wait in patience,
and in due time His light will come and guide us. This very
attitude of waiting, this very patience of expecting, will dispose the
mind to receive, and the will to rightly use, the needful light.

Whenever you are perplexed as to what course you should take,
if you go blindly into action, you will be sure to repent of it.
Wait for light, wait with patience, and light will not fail you. But
to delay where you ought to act is the very opposite to the spirit
of patient waiting. When you put off until to-morrow what you
ought to do to-day, and can do to-day, this is not the waiting of
patience, but an unwillingness to exercise the patience required for
the duty.

When placed under some trial that afflicts and pains the soul,
patient charity will recognise the will of God, sent in this shape
for the discipline of the virtues. Seek not to escape from it, but
remember the words of our Lord : ** Take My yoke upon you
Wait with patient endurance the deliverance of God, and this will
greatly augment your virtue. To abide under the trial with cheer-
ful resignation will strengthen and sweeten your soul. " My yoke

138 PERFECTER OF OUR DAILY DUTIES,

is sweet, and My burden light." The cross that is heavy to im-
patient anxiety is light when borne with patient love, because He
who gives the sensible burden gives the secret strength to bear it
sweetly.

There are trials laid on devout souls from which every drop of
sensible sweetness seems to be extracted. The one sense left is
the sense of desolation. In this most purifying trial the suffering
soul shares her Lord's desolation on the cross. Yet is there a
way still left to see the will of God, to acquiesce in the trial, to
understand its justice, to wait with patient endurance the coming
of God, and meanwhile to see the hand of God. Great is the
pain, the privation, and the pressure, yet the soul can desire and
pray, and feel her poverty, abiding in the resigned attitude of
waiting and endurance ; and she is conscious of the divine wisdom
expressed in the words of Ecclesiasticus : "Wait on God with
patience ; join thyself to God and endure, that thy life may be in-
creased in the latter end

Magnificent is the patience of faith under such a trial well
endured ; and the more so because the sufferer sees not the virtue
of his endurance ; it is only beheld by the helping angels. What
the soul sees is her native poverty ; what she desires is the Divine
Goodness. What she feels in the depth of her spirit is an infusion
of the gift of endurance. Then will the heart say to God with the
Psalmist : " Hear, O Lord, my voice, with which I have cried to
Thee. Have mercy on me, and hear me. My heart hath said to
Thee : My face hath sought Thee. Thy face, O Lord, will I still
seek. Turn not Thy face from me. • . . • I believe to see the
good things of the Lord in the land of the living. Expect the
Lord, do manfully, and let thy heart take courage, and wait for
the Lord."t See how the soul is drawn to God by the trial that
only seems to take her from Him. The voice seeks Him, the
heart seeks Him, the face seeks Him, the wants of the soul seek
Him, the desolation seeks Him; patience pleads, endurance
pleads, the expectant waiting of the soul pleads, and love pleads
in them all. And when all these pleadings have purified the
spirit, and drawn every purified desire from self to God, then
God shows His face to that soul in the great benignity and sweet-
ness of His visitation.

• Ecclus. il 3,

+ Psalm, xxvi. 7-9 and 13-14.

LECTURE VIIL

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

" He that is patient is governed with mnch wisdom : bat he that is im-
patient exalteth his folly.'* — Proverbs xiv. 29.

THERE are two Christian virtues whose names sound un-
pleasantly to the sensual man. Humility is one of them,
and patience is the other. If the cross is an offence to him, it is
because it is the expression of these two virtues sanctified and en-
forced by the divine example of God in man. Sensuality of life
breeds sel^love in the heart, and weakens the whole man with
irritability. By their fretful pressure on the soul these two dis-
orders produce an immense amount of self-consciousness, and
bring down the life of the spirit to a feeble state. Humility
relieves the spiritual system from those evil humours, and patience
restores it to strength. But self-love and impatience are cowardly
vices, that shrink with insane fear from the health-giving labours
of humility and patience, A child dislikes the medicine that gives
him health, and the tasks that give him understanding ; and the
sensual man is little better than a child : his sensual feelings rule
his mind ; he has neither the inward sincerity that humility gives,
nor the inward strength that patience gives. Nothing but the
strong grace of God can give him heart to conquer his weaknesses,
and courage to embrace the patience that will strengthen him.
Yet, if he will only ask, this will be given him, and then the cross
will become to him the consoling sign of life.

What is this Christian patience that any man should be afraid
of it ? It is the defensive armour of the Christian soul. Unlike
the stiff armour of pride, it is pliant as well as strong, flexible but
impenetrable, not cumbrous by its weight, but light as air to carry,
bright from its celestial origin like the armour of angels, not of

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I40 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

earthly metal but of spiritual power, not covering the body but
woven through the soul. It is a divinely given habit that gives
the soul her security, and is only formidable to her enemies. Ob-
tained of God, it gives the Christian man his character.

So completely does the habit of patience form and perfect the
character of the Christian man, so thoroughly does it furnish the
test of his faith as well as of his charity, that St. Paul has not failed
to point this out in his own example to his favourite disciple
Timothy. " For this cause," he says, " I have obtained mercy :
that in me first Christ Jesus might show forth all patience, for the
information of them that shall believe in Him unto life everlast-
ing.'** And the great Apostle appeals to his patience as one ot
the chief signs of the power of God working in his infirmity. "The
signs of my apostleship have been wrought on you in all patience,
in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." f

The wonderful character which their patience and constancy
gave to the early Christians under those privations, afflictions, and
sufferings which their faith brought upon them, was something so
new and so surprising, that it 3truck the mind of the pagan world,
and led many to enquire by what divine power this marvellous
change of character had been effected. It was a fact so notorious
that, in his Apologia for the Christians addressed to the authorities
of the Roman Empire, TertuUian makes it the subject of his final
appeal. *' That constancy," he says, ** with which you reproach
us as though it were obstinacy, is the Christian teacher. Who, when
he reflects on this constancy, is not struck by it ? Who in thus
reflecting is not led to enquire, what can be the cause of it in these
Christians? Who, when he has found out the cause, does not
join them ? Who, when he has joined them, does not wish to
suffer the same things ? And that with the view of obtaining the
whole grace of God, and complete forgiveness in exchange for his
blood. For all sins are forgiven to the patient work of suffering ;
and for this reason, the moment you pronounce your judgments
upon us, we give thanks to God. Your conflict with us is that of
human with divine power; when you condemn us God absolves
us."t

"The sum of the Christian character," we repeat with St.
Maximus, "is to return love for love and patience for injury.

* 1 Timothy i. i6. +2 Corinthiaas xii. 12. % Tertullian, Apologia^ c. $0.

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

Whoever is most patient will be the greatest in the kingdom of
God."* This law of perfection our Lord introduced when He
taught us to love our enemies, and to pray for our persecutors, that
we may be like to our Heavenly Father, who overcomes evil with
good. That patient suffering brings the highest of all rewards
our Lord also taught us on a special occasion. When the mother
of James and John asked that her two sons might sit on His right
hand and His left in His kingdom, He asked : " Can you drink of
the cup that I shall drink ? " t Plainly intimating that those who
suffered most with Him in the most patient charity would be the
greatest in His kingdom. And He crowned His Beatitudes with
the declaration, that those who suffered most for His sake were to
rejoice and be glad, because their reward should be very great in
Heaven.

Divinely helped and divinely motived, this virtue of patience is
a sublime imitation of God, all the grander because it is a combat
for life against the death-working frailties of nature. It gives power
to the will to keep the way of justice, serenity to the mind to see
the way to God, regulation to the powers, and discipline to life.
Fortitude is the gift of the Holy Ghost, and patience trains the
power of fortitude, giving unity/ consistency, and harmony to the
soul, and conquest over everything in our nature that lifts itself
against the will of God, The gifts of knowledge,* understanding,
counsel, and wisdom are brought into vital action through patience.
\Vhatever possibilities of good have been planted by God in our
nature, they are brought into act and duty by that charity which
is patient.

The patience of God is most wonderful It belongs to His
goodness and wisdom. How can creatures so weak and impatient
as we are understand that sovereign patience ? It belongs to the
moral power of Omnipotence. It is an element of that Eternal
Charity which is the life of God. How infinite the goodness
which made such weak and inconstant creatures, knowing that
only through His infinite patience with them can they be brought
out of their misery to His happiness ! Consider with what patience
He upholds every creature, lest through its inherent weakness it
fall back into nothingness. Be astonished when you consider
that patience with which God endures, sustains, and endows with

• S. Maximus, Koin. De S» Michaele» + S. Matthew xx. 22.

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

benefits those myriads of intelligent creatures, who, made for
Him, have turned His bounties against Him, and have given them-
selves up to vice and folly.

If, from the remote and obscure point of view at which we are
placed, our wonder at that sovereign patience is so great, what
would be our amazement were we placed in the full light of God,
and in that light could see the hearts of the multitude of His de-
pendent creatures as God beholds them, and the divine patience
with which He deals with them ! How profoundly significant of
that merciful patience are the words which God spoke to Noe after
the subsidence of the deluge. " I will no longer curse the earth
for the sake of man : for the imagination and thought of man's
heart are prone to evil from their youth : therefore I will no more
destroy every hving soul as I have done." • God spoke the word
of His eternal patience in view of the redemption and salvation
prepared in His Son, the Word of His bosom. Having made man
free to be the author of his own acts, He saw that sin would
abound ; He joined His patience with His mercy that His grace
and justice might more abound.

His patience delays His justice that His mercy may have its
course ; and that enduring us whilst plunged in evil, the magni-
ficent grace and cross of His Son may raise us out of our malice,
and make us the inheritors of His glory. We could never be the
children of His mercy if we were not first the subjects of His
patience. In refraining from punishing our iniquities God reserves
His justice ; and, sending His merciful grace, awaits our return to
better things. He has not even removed those good things far
from us, but patiently keeps them at our doors, always waiting for
our repentance, always ready for our acceptance. In our mind
He leaves the precious light of reason, in our Christian mind the
far more precious light of faith, that when we return to them from
our wild wanderings, we may find His truth, and come back to His
patient mercy. Behold with what silent patience our God endures
the abuse of His magnificent gifts, the perversion of reason, the
neglect of faith, the swelling pride, and the corrupting sensuality
that blot and defile those luminous blessings with dark ingratitude !

From His high Heavens the most patient God of mercy sends
those healing and restoring graces, the purchase of the patient

• Genesis viil 21.

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

sufferings of His Son, to cleanse us from errors and evils, and fill
us with the virtues of a holy life. The complement of those
spiritual blessings are the gifts of His Holy Spirit enveloped in the
fire of charity; the gift of fortitude, that we may adhere to God,
and by imitating His patience we may resist sin, and may suffer
with great reward ; and the gift of wisdom, whereby we may both
know and feel the value of things eternal as compared with the
things of this sublunary world. Yet, notwithstanding all that God
has done for us ; notwithstanding all that Christ has suffered for
us; notwithstanding the celestial gifts with which He has en-
dowed us ; we have still great need of the infinite patience of God,
waiting and helping, still waiting and helping, long waiting our
conversion and helping our infirmity, that we may turn from the
weak elements of the world, and come to the divine things of
our peace. For " the Lord is compassionate and merciful ; long-
suffering and plenteous in mercy. He knoweth our frame; He
remembereth that we are dust.*' *

If we have not those divine things in abundance it is because
we have not courage to imitate the divine patience, that charity
may be perfected and evil kept at a distance. What evil have we
ever known, experienced, or heard of, that did not demonstrate the
patience of God and the loss of patience in man ? Whilst the un-
believer affects to be scandalized at the patience of God, and blind
to the truth that His patience belongs to His goodness, and uses
His patience profanely as an argument against His goodness, that
most merciful and blessed patience is a profound instruction and an
unbounded consolation to the faithful soul. For God bears with
all this evil to exercise the patience of the just, and to give the
unjust time to return to justice. Though silent to the senses He
is not silent in the conscience ; there His voice is heard ; there He
rebukes the ungrateful; there, through their own reason. He
judges them ; through their fears He binds them ; through their
remorse He torments them. " Say not," says the wise man, " I
have sinned, and what evil has befallen me? For the Most High
is a patient rewarder.*'+ O sinner, look within thee, and thou
wilt find thyself desolate. Listen within thee, and thou wilt find
that the patient God is thy terror. Absent from thy heart. He
speaketh to thy conscience : " Despisest thou the riches of His

* Psalm cH. 8- 14.

+ Ecclesiasticus v. 4.

144 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

goodness, and patience, and long-suffering? Knowest thou not
that the benignity of God leadeth thee to repentance?*'* Yet if
the sinner will not repent, but will abuse the merciful patience that
waits for him, then the words of holy Job come home to him :
"God hath given him place for repentance, and he abuseth it
unto pride : but His eyes are upon His ways

As the reason of man is no measure of the revelation of God,
the patience of man is no measure of the patience of God. His
infinite patience is one with His inexhaustible goodness and
mercy. All things of time with all their times are all equally pre-
sent to His undivided and eternal life, " with whom there is no
change nor shadow of alteration What is perfect is unchange-
able. The patience of God is unchangeable. But we, with our
little patience, are the subjects of time and change ; and impatience
always changes us for the worse. Change, like death, destroys
what went before ; if the change come from God, it is a happy
change ; it makes us better than before. If it comes from impa-
tience, it makes us worse than before. But whoever by patience
adheres to God is saved from the changes that make us worse by
union with the unchangeable good, whereby we always change to
better things. This truth inspired St. Paul when he wrote these
remarkable words : '* To them who, according to patience in good
works, seek glory, and honour, and incorruption, eternal life %
Which words St. John Chrysostom interprets of the constancy and
perseverance that calmly pursues what is good, resists temptation,
endures trial, and refuses the will to every disturbing element,
awaiting in patience the coming of eternal life.§

The good which the Divine Majesty contemplates in His patience
with sinners is magnificent, but awful. St. Paul has gone into the
profound depths of the divine patience in the following sentences :
" What if God, willing to show His wrath and make His power
known, endureth with much patience vessels of wrath, fitted for
destruction, that He might show the riches of His glory in the
vessels of mercy, which He hath prepared for His glory ''.|| It is
not God who makes those vessels to be vessels of wrath ; they make
themselves to be such when they fill themselves with the filth of
sin, and God endures them with much patience. He endures

* Romans ii. 4. + Job xxiv. 23. % Romans ii. 7.

§ S. J. Chrysost. in locum.

II Romans ix. 22*23.

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE,

them that, if they turn to Him, He may make them vessels of
mercy. Meanwhile they become instruments to try the patience
of God's servants, and so to perfect them. But if during the time
that the much patience of God allows them, they will not return to
Him, then says the Apostle: ^'According to thy hardness and
impenitent heart, thou treasurest up to thyself wrath, against the
day of wrath and revelation of the just judgment of God Most
consoling to the penitent, most terrible to the impenitent, are the
ways of God's patience.

Wherefore the Almighty Father gave all patience to His Son,
who put it to full exercise, and carried it to the utmost for our
salvation, and then gave it to us in grace with His example. And
He enlightened the power of the gift with the precept : "In your
patience you shall possess your souls Every man is a man in so
far only as he holds the free possession of his soul. Every woman
is truly a woman only in so far as she possesses her soul in peace.
The Christian is so far a true Christian as he possesses his soul in
God, so that the world cannot take hold of him. And the secret
of this self-possession is in the patience which gives him a beauti-
ful resemblance to Christ But there is a much deeper resem-
blance to Christ in the patient endurance of evils, and even a much
greater participation with Christ in His work of saving souls, than
appears on the surface. Conscious of this in the depths of his in-
spired soul, the great Apostle boldly says: " I rejoice in my suffer-
ings for you, and fill up those things that are wanting in the suffer-
ings of Christ, in my flesh for His body, which is the Church
The Apostle does not say that there was anything wanting in the
sufferings of Christ } on the contrary, in another place he teaches
that God " perfected the Author of our salvation by His passion ".f
He says that by his sufferings he fills up those things that are
wanting to Christ in His body the Church. This opens a grand
view into the whole economy of suffering as well as into the pro-
found significance of patience.

Christ is the Head, the Church His body, united with the Head ;
into which the truth, spirit, and life of Christ descend, and are
diffused through His members, giving to the Church one organic
life with Christ, animated by His spirit, living by His virtue. And
although every member is not equally animated with His spirit,

* Romans ii. 5. + Colossians i. 24. % Hebrews ii. 10.

146 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

but some more, some less, yet all who are in the unity of His
body partake in some degree of His spirit, by faith if not by
charity. He is present with His Church, and teaches through His
Church; His grace animates the Church, and produces those divine
virtues which imitate His own. The sufferings which He endured,
the Church in her members endures, that in all things the Church
as His body may exhibit His own life and death to the Father,
For this cause the Church seems always dying to the world, whilst
always living unto God.

For Christ our Lord not only perfected His own patience by
His sufferings, but He receives all the sufferings endured by His
members for His sake, incorporates them with His own, endows
them with His merits, and thus gives them a communion with His
own proportioned to their loving patience. For in virtue of His
grace and love they are made holy and sacred. Through these
patient sufferings the Church is propagated and defended, her
members perfected, and she herself is made like to Christ in His
patient life and passion, and especially in His endurance of the
Cross ; and when as the Head of all He shall offer all that He has
redeemed and sanctified to the Father, among the richest offerings
will be the patient sufferings of His saints united with His own.

As the Head and body of the Church are mystically one, one is
the passion of Christ with the sufferings of the Church borne by
His grace and through His presence in her members. In her
apostles, martyrs, saints, and faithful members, the Church suffers
in Christy through Christ, with Christ, and for Christ He sancti-
fies those sufferings, and makes them fruitful. Not only what is
suffered externally, from His enemies, and in the sight of men ;
but what is endured internally with patience for His sake, and for
the sake of the virtues, is united with the interior sufferings of
Christ, and is sanctified by His grace and acceptance, an offer-
ing to God. How completely Christ makes the patient sufferings
of His members His own. He has Himself taught us in most touch-
ing terms. To those who feed the hungry, clothe the naked,
harbour the harbourless, comfort the sick, or console the afflicted.
He says : " Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of
these My least brethren, you did it to Me".* And when Saul
raged against the Church, and persecuted her members, Christ

* S. Matthew xxv. 4a

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE,

said to him : persecutest thou MeV^ making the sufferings

of the members of the Church His own.

In her deep sense of the divine things within her bosom, the
Church therefore takes a grand and lofty view of the benefits that
spring from the patient sufferings of her children. Our whole re-
demption and salvation rest on sufferings. United with the
patience of charity they have a most mysterious power of destroy-
ing evil and producing good. The Book of Revelations is the
prophetical history of the sufferings of the Church through the
ages, in which the suffering faithful look up in adoration to " the
Lamb who was slain, and who hath redeemed us in His blood**;
and the whole history of the Church militant is finally summed up
in this sentence : " Here is the patience of the saints, who keep
the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus

As there is a great communication of evil in the world, there is
a great communion of good in the Church. We neither pray,,
suffer, nor do good works for ourselves alone. From patient suf-
fering, when it is endured in Christ, there is a diffusion of expiatory
good beyond what we can fathom. St. Paul suffered exceedingly
for the Church at large, and this generous motive gave him joy
and consolation. Explicitly or implicitly all the servants of God
suffer for the Church as well as for themselves. For, as the
Apostle teaches, we are all of us the body of Christ, " and if one
member suffer anything, all the members suffer with it ; or, if one
member glory, all the members rejoice with it ".t And as all the
members are united together in Christ, whoever lays his sufferings
with patient humility on the Cross of Jesus, obtains from His
Blood a rich merit not only for himself but also for the needy
members of the Church, which the Vicar of Christ distributes in
His name.

In their hardness of heart the communion of the wicked " trea-
sure up wrath against the day of wrath But the communion of
the just treasure up good works and patient sufferings for the day
of reward. The wicked with their selfish vices spread the commu-
nication of evil far and wide ; the just spread far and wide the
communication of their good, and are generous with their prayers
and unselfish sufferings to all who stand in need of mercy. What
a contrast between these two communions ! What an opposition

• Apocalypse xiv.- 12. f I Corinthians xiL 26.

148 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

between these treasures ! The evil treasure is from evil hearts ;
the good treasure from good hearts. The one flows from selfish-
ness and malice, the other from charity and patience. The one is
the dark subterranean treasure of wrath, that iftust be finally sepul-
chered in hell ; the other the bright treasure of patient love laid up
in Heaven, where Christ unites the glorified sufferings of His
servants with His own.

Many things are wanting to the sufferings of Christ's body,
the Church, before its glory is completed; they are wanting to
perfect its likeness to Christ; they are wanting to perfect His
virtue in His members ; they are wanting to draw unbelievers and
sinners to His mercy ; they are wanting to complete the sancti-
fication of His elect ; they are wanting that He may present His
Church to God the Father glorified with victory, and bearing on
her members the scars and wounds of the fight of patience.
These the Apostles and servants of God fill up by their preaching,
suffering, and patience. But, according to the divine plan, there
are also other sufferings wanted, that the sufferings of Christ may
be daily and more plentifully applied to souls. For the sufferings
of patient souls are a great prayer, pleading for souls with a deeper
voice than tongues can utter. Every one of the faithful whose
soul is in charity applies to himself the satisfaction of Christ by
his prayers, by his good works, and by his sufferings, but in a
more special manner by his sufferings; and so satisfies for the
penalties due to his sins. But after he has received the pardon of
his sins, and has satisfied for their penalties, all of which rests on
the satisfaction of Christ, and is commingled with that divine
satisfaction, what remains of good works and patient suffering is
applicable to other souls that stand in need of assistance. This
belongs to the communion of saints and to the members of
the Church. But they are applicable only through the suf-
ferings and satisfactions of Christ, as of the members through
the Head.

Thus, as a king honours his faithful servants by giving them a
share in his power and government, Christ honours His devoted
servants, associates them with Himself, and gives them a share in
the service of the Church, and in the great work of satisfaction.
Not indeed as primary but as secondary and subordinate causes,
working through His power, and through the merits of His suffer-
ings. It is in this sense that St. Paul says : " I fill up those things

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

that are wanting in the sufferings of Christ, in my flesh for His
body, which is the Church

There is nothing that we suffer for the honour of God, however
little it may be, that is not more serviceable to us than if we po
sessed the dominion of the world. But suffering must be unsel-
fish, and when suffered for God it must be sacrificial. ^Vherefore
in repayment for what little we endure with loving patience God
will give us nothing less than Himself. Knowing as we do how
much and how cheerfully the saints suffered for God's sake, we
should equally remember that they were frail mortals like ourselves.
The arm of God is not shortened ; He is as ready to help us as
He was to help them. But if we shrink from the pain and patience
of suffering, let this reflection confound us, that it is not because
we cannot, but because we will not suffer for God*s sake. For
God is not less powerful or less willing to help us than He was to
help them.

Reflect again, that God would not have us suffer anything for
His sake that is not both useful and fruitful to ourselves. Re-
flect once more, that however great our trial or affliction may
be, and our interior trials are the greatest, the Son of God bore
them first, and permits them for our good. They are easy to bear
when we once understand that they come from the hand of God,
No adversity can befall us that is not in a certain way repugnant
to the divine nature ; and this makes it all the more certain that
God would never permit adversity to come upon us, were it not
that He sees the great fruit that we may obtain from it. For
affliction does not please God because it is affliction, but only
because of the incorruptible good to which it brings us, a good
that He has ordained from eternity. As the providence of God
sends the burden that we bear, and as He who endured all things
for our sake bears the burden of every one's trials who is resigned
to Him, the cross with its affliction is made sweet and divine,
and the sufferer learns from it to be indifferent to contempt or
honour, to the experience of bitter or of sweet things, and by his
likeness to Christ becomes divine through the Spirit of God that
moves within him.t

It would be long, and beyond the scope of these lectures, to

* See the copious exposition of the text in Cornelius a Lapide.
+ Rusbrokius, De Pracipuis Virtutibus^ L. v. c. 9.

ISO ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

enter upon the history of the patience of the Saints. Whoever
loves this essential virtue will not fail to trace that history in the
Holy Scriptures and the Lives of the Saints. But we must not pass
over what we can learn of the patience of the greatest and most
perfect of the Saints. Every act and word of the Blessed Virgin
Mary that has reached us breathes the most exquisite meekness
and tranquillity, through which the most perfect patience is
revealed.

There was a tradition in the early Church that she was very
silent, and spoke only at the call of charity. Of this habit of
silent recollection St. Luke gives us some intimation. Contemplate
that silent chamber with Mary in modest recollection ; the sudden
presence of the Archangel, and the trouble in her heart at the
salutation. The heavenly messenger dispels her maiden fears;
and however mighty, however awful the mystery in which she is
invited to share, in calm simplicity of heart she bends herself down
to the divine will in the words : " Behold the handmaid of the
Lord, be it done to me according to thy word '\ Yet upon that
stupendous mystery of which she was the subject, she is silent to
Joseph and to all the world, leaving its revelation to God in His
own good tjme, and patiently in the meanwhile enduring miscon-
struction and reproach.

Her profoundly contemplative spirit, of which fortitude is the
iDoral basis, is made known to us through her sublime canticle the
Magnificat. There we read the clear profundity of her humility
in the enraptured sweetness of her gratitude. There we see the
sublime height of her intuition into the ends contemplated by the
Divine Incarnation already accomplished in her bosom. She is
full of God, and in a few burning sentences sums up the light of
the Prophets of all past ages. After that burst of humility and
gratitude, all melted into praise, that moved her pure soul in ways
unspeakable, we see in her words the Word Incarnate putting the
mighty down from their seats, dispersing the proud, and lifting up
the humble. We see Him filling those who hunger for justice
with good things, and sending away empty those who glory in their
rxhes. We see the promises of God to the Patriarchs fulfilled,
Mnd the true Israel received to mercy. The whole mission of her
Son is unrolled before our eyes.

After the birth of her Son St. Luke tells us : " All that heard
wondered ; and at those things that were told them by the Shep-

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

herds. But Mary kept all these words, pondering them in her
heart." All are talking and wondering around her ; she is thinking
in God. As the Archangel proclaimed her full of grace, and
prepared her for the full presence of the Holy Ghost, we are not
left to conjecture her fortitude and patience. Besides, we see it
all in the rude cave of Bethlehem. What a trial was that sudden
command in the night to fly to Egypt, with all her solicitude about
her infant Son ; there to dwell in poverty in that strange heathen
land ; there to wait in all patience and uncertainty for the divine
command to return ! What a touching incident was that of her
three days* sorrowing at the loss of her Son ! and what a consola-
tion when she found Him in the Temple I There was abready a
shadow from the three days of His passion upon her soul.

She piously follows her Son throughout His travels, labours,
ministry, and sorrows ; and whatever contradictions, insults, and
persecutions He endured in His person, she suffered in her heart.
For the prophecy of Simeon was fulfilled from first to last. " This
child is set for the fall, and for the resurrection of many in Israel,
and for a sign which shall be contradicted. . . . And thy
own soul a sword shall pierce." *

The whole strength of her patience and fortitude is expressed
in one sentence of the Gospel. St. John tells us : " There stood
by the cross of Jesus His Mother, and His Mother's sister, Mary
Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen ".f There, close by the cross, stood
the Mother of Jesus. In the midst of the most awful scene of
sacrilege and violence that the world has ever witnessed ; among
the rough executioners and coarse pagan soldiers; surrounded
by the maddened crowd, mocking, jeering, with loud clamouring
and rude gestures scoffing ; close by the cross stood the Mother of
Jesus. The Apostles had fled in terror; John alone remained,
bound by his love of Jesus and of Mary. Nailed upon that cross,
with the thorns around His head, torn by the .stripes, worn with
protracted sufferings, was Jesus her son and the Son of God.
He was pierced with five wounds : she through all her senses to
the soul. Yet she stood. Her fortitude and patience are divine,
and reveal the whole virtue of her innocent life.

Her sister, Mary Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen stand by her,
the faithful companions of her sorrow and distress. They cling

• S. Luke ii. 18-19. lb. 34-35. + S. John xix. 25.

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

in great faith and constancy to Jesus, and would not desert Him
in His tremendous day of sacrifice. They stand by His Mother
pierced through all her being with that great agony, the Mother by
the Son, making her oblation with His sacrifice, and receiving His
dying words, until He expires between two criminals. " And thy
own soul a sword shall pierce, that out of many hearts thoughts
may be revealed."

Nothing strikes with such a depth into the soul as the passion
of our Lord and Saviour. Nothing cuts into our follies so
effectually. Nothing implants in us a wisdom so divine. Through
the sufferings of Jesus we see straight into eternity, and behold the
compassion of God for us miserable sinners. There we see the
cost of sin and the value of immortal souls. To love the sufferings
of Christ and His patience is to bring His spirit into our heart
with great energy and light. From His cross He reveals the
grand truth to our soul that patience hath a perfect work. From
the cross He inspires us with the love of patience. From the
cross He grants us patience. When we contemplate the Son of
God with His spirit exalted above all His sufferings, and see the
heart of the Mother exalted to Him abovci all her sufferings, we
feel the healing power of patience. And through the patience of
the Son we see the patience of the Father, who permits these
cruelties for our salvatioa

Both in the Son and in the Mother you feel the divine power
of resignation. These words — Thy will he done^ when they spring
from the surrender of all to God, bring to the soul a peace and
courage that are not without a tasting of the goodness of God. Why
are great trials allowed, except to bring the soul to devout acts
of resignation? "This pure resignation/' as the experienced
Taulerus observes, "brings the soul straight to God, establishes
her in God, and makes her conformable to God; nor can that
soul seek the pure honour of God without respect to her own
enjoyment, or without a sense of God in her own spirit, however
hidden it may be.'* True devotion therefore consists in true
and most humble resignation, and this includes self-abnegation,
whether we abound in consolation, or are left in penury and
desolation, so that whatever befalls we always abide with God in
peace. It was thus St. Paul knew how to abound and how to
suffer need, secure in God who strengthened him.

When temptations come that are neither sought nor desired,

EJ^COURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE. 153

be neither alarmed nor disheartened. The virtues are perfected
by their conflicts with eviL It is useful that God should leave us
those evil propensities, that we may manfully resist them ; not by
facing them, not by prying into them^ not by giving them counte-
nance in any way, but by turning away from them and patiently
adhering to God. They thus drive us to God when we are the
least disposed to seek Him ; and for this lawful striving a great
reward is prepared. When the crops of the field have endured
the rigours of winter, they become stronger and more fruitful ;
and it is not every one who can come to perfection without rude
conflicts with temptation. The words of Eliphaz were not appli-
cable to holy Job, but to many weak souls they come home with
too much truth. ''The scourge is come upon thee, and thou
faintest ; it has touched thee, and thou art troubled. Where is
thy fear, thy fortitude, thy patience, and the perfection of thy
wa3rs?''*

These are the soft and tender souls that have lived in sensible
devotions, who stand in need of trials not only to strengthen their
virtues, but to drive them out of themselves, that by stress of
trial they may draw nigh to God. Without such trials they never
can be perfected.

It is quite certain, as the devout Blosius observes, that persons
who have a natural propensity to vice, and consequently find it a
labour to keep the imagination free firom vain and foolish images
that imprint their colours on the inferior soul, when they strive m
earnest to mortify themselves and get rid of those intrusions,
become much more vigorous in virtue than those who are not
troubled with such propensities, or besieged with such imagina-
tions. A statue that has been carved with laborious patience and
perseverance into perfect form out of a block of marble is far
more precious than the same figure moulded with ease from a
lump of soft wax. The more diflficult the material out of which
the soul is perfected, the more glorious will be the work when
completed.

Hence those who have striven the most vigorously against them-
selves, though they may leave this world imperfect and have to be
purified in the next, will obtain a much higher place in Heaven
than those who have not striven with the same energy and patience,

•Job iv. 5-6.

154 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

even though these last should reach Heaven without any need of
purgation.

Sometimes even souls that are more perfect will feel inordinate
movements in their inferior nature or animal senses, to which their
whole reason and will is opposed. A tempest may rage in the
inferior nature whilst the superior man is at peace. Such things
do occur, and are displeasing to the will ; but let not that soul
imagine that the grace of God has left her. For God often pro-
motes the salvation of His elect by things that to the sufferer seem
contrary to salvation. Hence He sometimes permits those foul
and infernal temptations that are a horror to the soul. Amidst
such involuntary trials, the devout soul will resign herself to God,
adhere to God, and abide in her superior nature, and will omit
neither her good works nor the Holy Communion ; for as long as
the soul refuses her consent she suffers no injury. The imagination
may be beset even with blasphemies and other absurd follies,
suggestions of the evil one, and they may almost seem to speak
with a human voice ; still let the soul not trouble herself any more
than if they were so many flies buzzing about the face, and let
her turn to God If they grow urgent and vehement, sign the
cross, look to our Lord's Passion, and say to Him : " Keep my
heart immaculate, that I may not be confounded".

There may be even a yet more terrible trial. In your hour of
desolation it may seem to your fancy that God has abandoned
you, and that to your feelings He would seem to say : "You please
Me no more, and I quit you". Yet even then must you not
abandon your patient trust in your Heavenly Father, but must say
with holy Job in full faith : " Even though He slay me, I will
trust in Him ; but yet will I reprove my ways in His sight".*

For why has this trial come but to strengthen your faith and
your hope, and to awaken a deeper sense in you of your nothing-
ness apart from God? Why has it made you desolate but to
bring you into the exercise of that fundamental patience, and draw
out of you that profound resignation, which, searching your nature
^deeply, will enable the grace of God to penetrate, secretly indeed,
but into the very essence of your soul ? t

We may now sum up the value of patient and resigned suffer-
ing in the language of the devout and learned Blosius.

* Job xiii. 15. + See Blosius, InstihUio Spiritualise c 8. sect.

ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

1. Nothing more valuable can befall a man than tribulation,
when it is endured with patience for the love of God ; Because
there is no more certain sign of the divine election. But this
should be understood quite as much of internal as of external
trials, which people of a certain kind of piety are apt to forget.

2. It is the chain of patient sufferings that forms the ring with
which Christ espouses a soul to Himself.

3. There is such a dignity in suffering for God's sake, that we
ought to account ourselves unworthy of an honour so great.

4. Good works are of great value ; but even those lesser pains
and trials that are endured with peace and patience are more
valuable than many good works.

5. Every sorrowful trial bears some resemblance to the most
excellent Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ ; and when it is endured
with patience, it makes him who endures it a more perfect partaker
of the Passion of his Lord and Saviour.

6. Tribulation opens the soul to the gifts of God ; and when
they are received tribulation preserves them.

7. What we now suffer God has from eternity foreseen, and has
ordained that we should suffer in this way, and not in any other
way. Would He allow the least adversity to fall upon His children,
or to come within them, or the least breath of wind to blow upon
them, that He saw was inexpedient for their salvation ? Heat and
cold, hunger and thirst, infirmities and afflictions, all these and
each of them, whenever they befall the servants of God, come not
only to purify but to adorn their souls.

8. The artist lays his lines and colours in lights and shades
upon the canvas, to set forth some beautiful production of his
genius. The noble maiden is adorned with rich garments set with
gold and jewels for her nuptials. So God adorns His elect, whom
He separates unto Himself, investing them with the magnificent
virtues produced by sufferings, like those with which he adorned
His well-beloved Son. Wherefore all affliction and bitterness
must be borne with cheerful patience, as they are so much better
than the pains of purgatory or the eternal flames.

9. One of the friends of God has said : When any one feels
affliction or sorrow, and is humbly resigned to God, this resignation
is like a harp that gives out sweet-sounding notes, and the Holy
Spirit brings out a canticle that resounds melodiously, though
secretly, in the hearing of our Heavenly Father. The lower

156 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

chords, strung in the inferior nature of the man, send forth low
and mournful notes of grief; but the higher chords, strung in the
superior powers of the soul, are full of devotion, and resound with
the free and soaring notes of patient resignation to the glorious
will of God. The sensible nature is crucified, and sighs over its
sufferings ; but the rational spirit praises God in peace. For those
fiery afflictions that consume the marrow and the bones prepare
the soul for close union with God ; and as fire prepares wax to
receive new forms, these trials prepare the soul to receive a better
likeness of God. Nothing can receive the form of another until
its own form is put away; and before the Divine Artist can
imprint the most noble image of His glory on the soul, that soul
must give up the image of the old Adam with pain and suffering,
that she may be supernaturally changed and transformed. The
Almighty prepares her therefore for this happy transformation by
severe adversities. Having decreed to adorn her, after this divine
transformation, with the divinest gifts, so great a change cannot
be effected by soft and soothing baths, but by plunging her into a
sea of bitterness.

Yet all are not brought into the same depths of interior trial,
nor are all subjected to the like accumulation of external afflictions.
These are God's special favours to souls marked out for great
perfection, and consequentiy for a large share of the cross and
glory of Christ. To these divine purifications it may be truly said
that " many are called, but few are chosen Feebler souls are
treated in gentler ways. Some God conducts more in the way of
consolation than in the way of the cross. Others, because of their
stronger nature, require greater purification. Others, again, because
faithful to the gift of fortitude, can endure more for the love of
God. But in this world or the next must every soul be perfectly
purified before her admittance to the open glory of God.

It by no means follows that the strongest natures, whether
strong in body or in mind, have the greatest share assigned them
of the cross and sufferings of Christ. These favours are granted
to those who are faithful to the strongest graces. Hence we often
see them bestowed on persons of feeble frame or of simple mind,
in whom, as true lovers of the cross, grace triumphs over nature
in admirable ways. St Gertrude was divinely instructed, that
sometimes when God would favour a soul by abiding with her,
when she is not constant in abiding with Him, He sends her

ENCOVRAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

troubles or pains of body or soul to change her spirit, that she may
be able to abide with Him. These are the mysterious ways of
God's grace and goodness. For " the Lord is nigh to them who
are of a contrite heart And of such He says : " He shall cry
to Me, and I will hear him : I am with him in his trouble t

There is one instruction more, and of great importance, that
may be given in the words of St. Catherine of Siena. The pains
that people suffer in this world are chiefly inflictions because the
will is inordihate. If the will were in its right place, in its just
order, and in due accordance with the will of God, the soul with
such a will would be in a certain manner free from pain. For
although one endowed with a will so holy and well regulated still
feels labour and sorrqw, yet he bears all this just as if he had no
pain ; because he endures it most willingly, and with clear know-
ledge that he is suffering by the holy will and permission of God.
His mind is free, he has no anxiety about what he so well under-
stands, and his will is united with the will of God. Affliction and
pain depend upon how we take them; a man is only afflicted
through having what he is unwilling to have, or through not having
what he desires to have. Take his self-will away, and his spirit
becomes tranquil and enjoys peace.J

We cannot better conclude this lecture than with the commen-
dations given to the virtue of patience by St. Cyprian, the holy
Bishop and Martyr of Carthage. ** After carefully weighing the
goods of patience and the evils of impatience, let us hold fast to
the full discipline of patience, that we may abide in Christ, and
come through Christ to God. This virtue is so abundant and so
manifold that it cannot be kept within narrow bounds or be forced
into shrunken conditions. It is a far-reaching virtue, whose large
abundance proceeds from one divine fountain, but the streams
thereof spread through many paths of glory. In our actions and
praises nothing can be complete unless the firmness of patience be
there to give it perfection.

" Patience is that virtue which commends us to God, and keeps
us with God. It smoothes down anger, keeps the tongue obedient,
governs the mind, maintains peace, and upholds us in good
discipline. It breaks down the assaults of concupiscence, holds

* Psalm xxxiii. 19.
+ Psalm xc 15. See Blosius, Institutib Spiritualise c. 8. sect. 3.
X S. Caterina da Siena, Trat. i. c. 45 ; Trat. 2. c. 131.

iS8 ENCOURAGEMENTS TO PATIENCE.

back the soul from the swellings of pride, and extinguishes the
hidden flames of hatred. In the rich and the mighty it restrains
the abuse of power : in the poor it fosters content with their lot :
it protects the blessed integrity of virgins, the laborious chastity of
widowhood, and the united charity of married life. It makes us
humble in prosperity, strong in adversity, and mild against insults
and injuries. The patient one is prompt to forgive, and ready to
ask pardon where offence has been given. By patience we are
made strong to resist temptation, to endure persecution, to
consummate suffering, to perfect martyrdom for justice* sake.
This virtue gives to faith its firm ground and strong foundations,
sublimely elevates the growth of hope, and directs our energies
to follow on the path of Christ in imitation of His long endurance.
It gives the spirit of perseverance to the children of God, whereby
we imitate the patience of our Heavenly Father." *

* S. Cyprian, Di Bono Fatientia^ c 2a

LECTURE IX.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST.

" The Spirit helpeth our infirmity." — Romans viil 26.
ORTITUDE is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost: it is

JL the strengthening gift, and patience is included in fortitude.
These instructions would therefore be incomplete without some
exposition of the divine gift of fortitude. But as the seven gifts of
the Holy Ghost are united with each other, this again requires
that we should explain the whole of the divine gifts, first in their
union, and then in their distinctions.

God the Father was especially manifested in the work of crea-
tion, God the Son in the work of redemption, and God the Holy
Ghost in the work of sanctification. But even in the work of
creation there was a certain manifestation of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost. The Father spoke His creative will through His
Eternal Word, and the Spirit brooded like a divine bird over the
chaotic elements to fertilize the creation, and bring it into order
and completeness. He also breathed the breath of living grace
into the newly created Adam. In the Old Testament He was
equally promised with the Son, was manifested in the benedictions
of the Patriarchs, spoke through the Prophets, gave fortitude to
God's heroes, and sanctity to the just.

In the Prophet Ezechiel the Holy Spirit of God is especially
promised as the sanctifier of souls cleansed in the blood of Christ.
" I will pour upon you clean water, and you shall be cleansed from
your filthiness, and I will cleanse you from all your idols, and I
will give you a new heart, and a new spirit within you ; and I will
take away your stony heart, and will give you a heart of flesh.
And I will put My Spirit in the midst of you ; and will cause you

i6o ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

to walk in My commandments, and to keep My judgments, and do
them. .... And you shall be My people, and I will be your
God."*

In the Creed the Holy Spirit is especially distinguished by what
He does for us as " the Lord and Giver of Life This office of
Life-giver He has revealed in one of the most striking figures of
Holy Scripture in the prophecy of Ezechiel, where he restores life
and vigour to the vast multitude that lay slain and reduced to dry
bones upon the field of battle.

" The hand of the Lord is upon me," says the prophet, "and
brought me forth in the Spirit of the Lord ; and set me down in
the midst of the plain that was full of bones, and He led me about
through them on every side : now there were very many on the
face of the plain, and they were exceedingly dry. And He said
to me : Son of man, dost thou think these bones shall live ? And
I answered : O Lord God, Thou knowest. And he said to me :
Prophesy concerning these bones : and say to them • Ye dry bones,
hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God to these
bones : Behold I will send spirit into you, and you shall live. . . .
And I prophesied as He had commanded me: and as I prophesied
there was a noise, and behold a commotion : and the bones came
together, each one to its joint. And I saw, and behold the sinews
and the fiesh came up upon them : and the skin was stretched out
over them, but there was no spirit in them.

"And He said to me: Prophesy to the Spirit, prophesy, O son
of man, and say to the Spirit : Thus saith the Lord God : Come,
Spirit, from the four winds, and breathe upon these slain, and let
them live again. And I prophesied as He had commanded me :
and the Spirit came into them, and they lived : and they stood
upon their feet, an exceeding great army. And the Lord God
said: You shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall have
opened your sepulchres, and shall have brought you out of your
graves, O my people : and shall put my Spirit into you, and you
shall live." t

But although promised as the Giver of life in the Old Testa-
ment, the Holy Spirit was not completely manifested as the Third
Person of the Holy Trinity until the accomplishment of the divine
mystery of the Incarnation, when the Father revealed Him through

♦ Ezechiel xxvi. 25-28. t Ezechiel xxxvii. 1-14,

Digitized by

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST i6i

the Son. As " the power of the Most High," He was manifested
to Mary at the Incarnation. To John the Baptist and His dis-
ciples He was manifested at the baptism of Jesus, when He
appeared in the form of a dove resting upon the Son of God,
whom a voice proclaimed to be the teacher of mankind. He was
manifested when the Son of God proclaimed His mission in the
Sjmagogue of Nazareth. " The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
wherefore He hath anointed me, to preach the Gospel to the poor
He hath sent me." *

He was manifested in the preaching of Christ, who promised
Him as the enlightener and strengthener of souls. He was mani-
fested in the glorious Transfiguration of Christ, when His interior
glory streamed forth to chosen witnesses, and the Holy Spirit
was in the bright cloud above, and His voice came from the
cloud. He was manifested after the Resurrection, when the Son
of God breathed on His Apostles, and said : " Receive ye the Holy
Ghost ; whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them ".f

He was manifested in splendour and glory on the day of Pente-
cost, when as in a mighty wind He came down from Heaven, and
rested in tongues of fire upon the heads of the Apostles, "and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost ". %

Through the Apostles the Holy Spirit was manifested to the
world in the inspiration of their preaching, the fortitude of their
sufferings, and the wisdom and sanctity of their lives. He is
incessantly manifested in the Church through her wonderful unity,
the unchangeableness of her teaching, the divine gifts of her
ministering, and the number of her saints.

What a mighty Creator is the Holy Spirit! exclaims St. Gregory.
He has only to touch the soul and all is taught. He fills the
youthful David with His spirit, and he becomes the Psalmist. He
fills the rustic Amos with His spirit, and he becomes a prophet.
He fills the child Daniel with His spirit, and he judges the elders,
and proclaims the coming destruction of princes and powers. He
fills the fisherman with His spirit, and he becomes an Apostle.
He fills the persecuting Pharisee with His spirit, and he becomes
the Doctor of the Gentiles. Quickly is it done, for the grace of
the Holy Spirit knows of no tardy delays.

What are we to understand by the gifts of the Holy Ghost ?

* S. Luke iv. i8. f S. John xx. 22-23. ♦ Acts il 4.
II

i62 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

In what do they agree with the graces of the virtues ? In what
do they differ from them? What, again, are the effects which
they produce in souls that are faithful to them ?

The attribute of the Holy Spirit as " the Lord and Giver of
life," deserves prolonged meditation, and what follows will be but
the exposition of that attribute. Spiritual life implies light, love,
freedom, power, and union with God through His Spirit dwelling
in us. The Holy Spirit is the principle of love and union in the
Holy Trinity. He is also the gracious principle of our union
with God His sanctifying grace gives the first principle of super-
natural life to our soul in baptism; and in this sanctifying or
justifying grace we receive the habit of the theological and moral
virtues. These habits are the operations of the Holy Spirit within
our souls, giving us dispositions and inclinations to believe in God,
to hope in Him, to love Him, and to fulfil the law of God in the
exercise of the other virtues.

Sanctifying grace comes with charity, and is charity ; this charity
gives Hfe, and by it we receive the beginning of the gifts of the
Holy Ghost. But this sanctifying or justifying grace is a super-
natural and divine principle implanted by the Holy Spirit in the
soul. How it is received into the soul so as to reach all her
powers St. Thomas will explain. " As the powers of the soul flow
from her essence, and these powers are the principles of her
actions ; so from sanctifying grace the habits of the virtues flow
through the essence of the soul into her powers, and through these
habits of virtue the powers are moved into action.** *

But this sanctifying grace is more than a divine principle ; it is
an actual partaking of the Holy Spirit of God, of which St. Peter
says : " Grace to you, and peace be accomplished in the know-
ledge of God, and of Christ Jesus our Lord: as all things of
divine power, which appertain to life and godliness, are given
to us, through the knowledge of Him who hath called us by His
own proper glory and virtue. By whom He hath given us most
great and precious promises ; that by these you may be made par-
takers of the divine nature," f

And St. Paul teaches that " the charity of God is poured forth
in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to us %

These words, " the Holy Ghost who is given to us," and " we

* S. Thomas, Sum, i. 2. q. no. a. 4. f 2 S. Peter i. 2-4. X Romans v. 5.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 163

are made partakers of the divine nature," require careful explana-
tion. St. Thomas observes that, although the light and power of
grace are partakings of the divine nature, and the sanctifying
grace of the Holy Spirit establishes in us a holy union with God,
yet this is by a created participation, and not a partaking of the
substance of God. It comes of His divine presence in the soul,
and of His operation, and is the result of His divine action. Nor
is it the substance of the soul, but it is given to that substance,
and may be taken away from the unworthy. For which reason
St Paul says : " Know you not that you are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you ? But if any man violate
the temple of God, him will God destroy." ♦

We owe it to the supreme condescension of God that His Holy
Spirit attaches Himself to His gifts of sanctifying grace and
charity. By so doing He dwells in us, imparts life to us, adopts
us, establishes us in dignity, makes us like to God, and moves us
towards God. But the Holy Ghost is never without the Father
and the Son, with whom He is to us the bond of union. This
truth our Lord expressed to His disciples in the words, If any
one will love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love
him, and We will come to him, and will make our abode with
him".t After which words He promises His Holy Spirit that we
may love Him.

The sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit establishes us therefore
in a supernatural state of life, raises the image of God within us to
His likeness, makes us God's children, inheritors of His kingdom,
and temples in which He deigns to dwell. So great, noble, and
precious is this grace, exalting the soul above the order of nature,
and bringing her into such union with God, that the good of this
grace in one single soul is greater than all the natural good of the
whole universe4

What an inexhaustible subject of meditation and gratitude!
The presence of God in the soul gifted with charity is a divine fact,
to be realized by the mind to the utmost. It places the possessor
of grace in a divine order of things, that leads up to God and
points to His glory. Take the whole circle of created nature,
where grace is not ; that nature is powerless to ascend to God. It

* I Corinthians iii. 16-17. + S. John xiv. 23,

X S. Thomas, Sum, I. 2. q. 113. a. 9.

i64 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST.

follows of necessity that there can be no proportion of value
between grace and nature.

But the gifts of the Holy Ghost have a higher excellence, a
superior force, and more powerful efficacy than the habits of the
virtues; they have immediate reference to the Holy Ghost as
dwelling within us, from whom they proceed as from their direct
cause and their most bountiful Giver. For it is one thing to have
divine movements in the soul and another to have the Divine
Mover present, and acting immediately within the powers, and
perfecting their action.

St. Thomas defines the gifts of the Holy Ghost to be certain
habits that perfect the soul to obey the Holy Spirit with prompti-
tude.* These habits attract the soul to follow the divine inspira-
tions or inbreathings with ease and freedom. The Holy Spirit
Himself is called Altissimi donum Dd^ the gift by excellence of
the Most High God. The seven gifts are called the seven spirits
as well, that is to say, the seven radiations of divine light, flowings
of spiritual unction, breathings of power, that attract and draw the
will to comply with the inspirations of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul
says, " There are diversities of graces, but one Spirit And St.
Thomas justly remarks, that we ought to follow the language of
Holy Scripture which calls these gifts spirits : " The spirit of
wisdom, the spirit of knowledge,** and the rest The seven spirits
are seven divine quahties inbreathed. It may be a question
whether the Seven Spirits before the throne of God may not each
represent one of these seven gifts of the Holy Spirit in an eminent
degree. The breathing of the Spirit into Adam gave him the
breath of spiritual life upon his creation. The breathing of Christ
upon the Apostles conveyed to them the power of the Holy Spirit
to heal the fallen Adam in his descendants: "Receive ye the
Holy Ghost, whose sins ye shall forgive, they are forgiven them
But the Holy Spirit dwelling within the soul is the fountain of the
seven gifts ; which truth we express in the hymn of the Church,
in which we invite Him to come and fill our souls ; in which also
we call upon Him as " the living spring, the living fire, sweet
unction, and true love"; and we ask Him to confirm and strengthen
us with constant power.

There are two principles of movement then in the Christian

*S. Thomas, Sum. I. 2. q. 113. a. 9.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 165

soul ; one is the movement of the man, the other is the movement
of God. The mere human virtues move from natural reason;
the Christian virtues move from grace, the free will works with
them, and they perfect the man towards his salvation. But the
gifts of the Holy Ghost give a higher perfection to the faculties
than the grace of the virtues, raising our spirit to higher things,
and rendering it prompt, vigorous, and readily responsive to the
divine influences.

Four of these gifts — ^knowledge, understanding, counsel, and
wisdom — refer to the illuminating and elevating of the mind ; the
other three — fortitude, piety and the fear of the Lord — refer directly
to the strengthening, sweetening, and exalting of the will, because
they affect the heart or will with the sense of divine things. But
the four gifts to the mind are also gifts to the will, because they
are not only the greatest illuminators and guides of the will, but
give freedom and strength of action to the will, whether in
contemplation or in the conduct of life. For the gift of wisdom,
which includes the other three, is of the heart as well as of the
mind, giving a sensible relish of those heavenly things which the
truth presents to the mind, and which we feel through the unction
of the Holy Spirit.

Of this divine illumination of the Holy Spirit our Lord says :
" He will teach you all truth,'* and again : " He will bring to your
mind whatsoever I shall have said to you".* And St. Paul
tells us: "We have received the Spirit that is of God, that
we may know the things that are given us from God*\t And
commending the Colossians for their "love in the Spirit," the
Apostle asks for them the whole perfecting operation of the Holy
Spirit, " That you may be filled with the knowledge of His will,
in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That you may walk
worthy of God, in all things pleasing : being fruitful in every good
work, and increasing in the knowledge of God : strengthened with
all might according to the power of His glory, in all patience and
long-suffering with joy, giving thanks to God the Father, who hath
made us partakers of the lot of the saints in light." %

In this inspired passage we have presented to us the whole
illuminating and strengthening power of the Holy Spirit, perfecting
the virtues with His gifts. With respect, again, to the gifts of

* S. John xiv. 26« f i Corinthians ii. 12. % Colossians i. 9-12.

i66 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

fortitude and piety, the Apostle says : " If we hope for that which
we see not, we wait for it in patience. Likewise the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for
as we ought : but the Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeak-
able groanings. And He that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what
the Spirit desireth : because He asketh for the saints according to
God."*

When the divine gifts coincide with the virtues, they are only
distinguished by their greater splendour and fruitfulness. The
virtues are given in the grace of Baptism ; the gifts are given in
greater strength and abundance in Confirmation ; and are after-
wards augnjented in proportion to the humility and charity of the
receiver. Of this we have divine assurance : " If you love Me,
keep My commandments, and I will ask the Father, and He will
give you another paraclete, that He may abide with you for ever.
The Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it
seeth Him not, nor knoweth Him, but you shall know Him ;
because He shall abide with you, and remain with you." t

We must therefore understand that the spiritual movements of
the soul are imperfect and inadequate to reach their end in a per-
fect way, without the immediate presence, inspiration, and opera-
tion of the Holy Spirit, moving us according to the light and sense
of His eternal wisdom. Yet He only moves us so far as we are
disposed to be moved, and when we do not oppose Him with the
dull resistance and unbending tenacity of our self-will, clinging to
unworthy or defiling things. But when the will is open, pure, and
free, we may confidently say with the Psalmist : " Thy good Spirit
shall lead me into the right land ''.J And we may feel the assu-
rance given us by St. Paul, that " whosoever are led by the Spirit
of God, they are the sons of God".§

Let then the soul understand this thoroughly, and reflect upon
it earnestly, that it is the presence, charity and action of the Holy
Ghost within us that makes us acceptable to God, when we are
faithfully obedient to His light and inspirations. For what pleases
our Heavenly Father in us is His own Divine Spirit, given to us
through the merits of His Son, working in our nature, and drawing
our will and mind to work with Him. When our Heavenly Father

* Romans viii. 25-27. + S. John xiv. 15-17. + Psalms cxlii 10.
§ Romans viii. 14.

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ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 167

beholds the Blood of His Son upon our soul, His Gospel in our
heart, and His Spirit within our spirit, moving us towards Him ;
when He sees His own Spirit spreading out His gifts in our powers,
and hears that Spirit pleading for us through the prayer that He
inspires with His own unspeakable utterances, our Heavenly Father
is propitiated by the great presence within us, and is pleased to
accept us for the sake of the divine good that has come into us,
and which is the bond of union between the feeble creature and
her Omnipotent and all-pure Creator. The Holy Ghost is also
our protector from our enemies. For, quoting St. Thomas once
more, when the gifts of the Holy Ghost are combined with the
virtues, they are sufficient to exclude the sins and vices, and to
protect us both in the present and in the future from sin. But
with respect to past sins whose guilt is not yet removed, we have a
special remedy in the sacraments.*

Yet the movements of the Holy Ghost are so far from impeding
the freedom of the will, that they promote that freedom as nothing
else can. For they raise the will out of its material fetters, repel
the obstacles to that freedom interposed by self-love and by the
other clogging vices, and give greater freedom by giving greater
power to the will. Hence St. Paul says : " Where is the Spirit of
the Lord there is liberty ^'.f St. Basil compares man to a ship
under sail. The ship may be well constructed and provided, but
without the impulse of the wind it cannot move towards its destL
nation. So man may have sanctifying grace and the habits of the
virtues, but without the moving power of the Holy Spirit he cannot
advance towards God. Without the wind the ship is not at hberty :
without the breathing of the Holy Spirit the soul has not her
spiritual freedom.

The Prophet Isaias gives the seven gifts in the order of their
dignity and excellence, placing wisdom first and the fear of God
last. This is a usual method in the Scriptures, and we have it in
the ten commandments. It is the precedence due to what is
nearest to God, and to what brings us nearest to God. But
when we consider the gifts as they come to us we must
reverse the order, and place the fear of God first and wisdom
last. This has been pointed out by St. Augustine, and explained
by St Gregory. In his allegorical style the great Doctor of Morals

* S. Thomas, Sum» i. 2. a. 68. q. 3. f 2 Corinthians iii. 17.

i68 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

attaches his instruction to the vision of the new Temple as seen
by the Prophet Ezechiel. Describing the gate of the Court that
looked to the North, the Prophet says : ** And they went up to
it by seven steps ; and a porch was before it

By seven steps, says St. Gregory, we ascend to the door, as by
the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost we come to the kingdom
of Heaven. These gifts, as enumerated by Isaias, rested on the
head of Christ, and they rest on His body, which we are. The
Prophet speaks of these degrees in their descending rather than in
their ascending order. For undoubtedly we ascend from fear to
wisdom. In our mind the first step of ascent is by fear, the second
by piety, the third by knowledge, the fourth by fortitude, the fifth
by counsel, the sixth by understanding, and the seventh by wisdom.
But what is fear without piety ? What is piety unguided by know-
ledge? What, again, is knowledge without the power to will?
Our knowledge therefore must pass into fortitude, that what we
know, that we may do without fear or alarm, and may defend the
good that we have. But fortitude is unsafe without foresight and
circumspection, which saves us from rushing into presumption,
and coming to a fall. Fortitude must therefore ascend to counsel,
that we may see what is best to be done, and may do it with mag-
nanimity. But there can be no counsel without understanding,
teaching us the evil to be avoided as well as the good to be sought
and consolidated. For counsel therefore we must ascend to under-
standing. Yet even though understanding be watchful and well
informed, it will still need to be matured and applied by wisdom.
We must therefore ascend to wisdom, that what understanding
discovers wisdom may ripen and bring to its proper ends.

As, then, we rise from fear to piety, and are led through piety to
knowledge, and go from knowledge to fortitude, and tend from
fortitude to counsel, and through counsel advance to under-
standing, and through understanding ascend to the maturity of
wisdom, we go up by these seven steps to the door that opens
into eternal life.

But it is written that there is a porch before the ascent; for unless
a man have humihty before he ascend, he cannot go up those
spiritual steps, nor reach those spiritual gifts. As it is written :
" To whom shall I have respect, but to him that is poor and little.

* Ezechiel xl. 22.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 169

of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My words?"* And it
is said in the Psalm : " In his heart he hath disposed to ascend
by steps in the vale of tears, in the place which he hath set ".f
This vale is a lovely place, where the sinner afflicts his heart
with tears whilst advancing towards the virtues. Again it is written •
" Thou sendest forth springs in the valleys ; the waters shall pass
between the midst of the hills % These are the streams of living
water of which our Lord speaks, that spring from the Holy Spirit
unto eternal life. They spring in the valleys, and they flow through
the valleys, because the gifts of the Holy Spirit are given to the
humble.§

Through this diversity of gifts from one Spirit we dispose
ascensions in our heart from the lowest to the highest : yet whoever
has received the perfection of wisdom has received all these gifts
in that one. Because the Holy Spirit is the Eternal Wisdom, and
He imparts the gifts that belong to wisdom in proportion to the
dispositions of the receiver. Hence it is said in the Proverbs:
"Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn out seven
pillars ''.|| This house is the sanctified soul in which the Holy
Spirit dwells, and the seven pillars are the seven luminous and
strengthening gifts that in the living house aspire to God. But
wisdom is the chief, giving us both the knowledge and the sense
of divine things, and from it there come the purest piety and the
firmest fortitude, whereby we both adhere to God and reject
what is opposed to God. And the fear of God that belongs to
wisdom is not a predominant dread of punishment, but such a
vivid sense of God instilled into the heart, as to fill us with the
sense of our own unworthiness.

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom," because, as
St. Bernard observes, "the soul obtains her first sense of God
through fear, and not through knowledge. When you fear the
justice and power of God it is because He gives you a vivid sense
of Himself as He is just and powerful. But fear affects our inward
sense, and just as knowledge gives us understanding, fear gives us
sensibility. When therefore we begin to feel God we begin to
enter into His wisdom, because wisdom comes of the sense of
God."1I But that fear of God which is perfect wisdom is the fear

• Isaias Ixvi. 2. + Psalm Ixxxiii. 6, 7. % Psalm ciii. 10.
§ S. Greg. Mag. in EzechieU L. ii. Horn. 19,
il Proverbs ix. i. H S. Bernard. Serm, 23 in Cantic.

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I70 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST.

of love and reverence, and it arises from an all-pervading feeling
of the Infinite Goodness, the sublime Majesty, and the eternal
Glory of God, in contrast with our nothingness before Him.
Wisdom, therefore, as the Scripture teaches, " is an infinite treas-
sure to men : which they that use become the friends of God, being
commended for the gifts of discipUne

The seven gifts are opposed to the seven deadly sins ; and they
are the life of the eight beatitudes. As the heart sends the hfe's
blood through all the veins and limbs of the body, the Holy Spirit
sends His living fire and unction through all the powers of the soul.
The Master of love and sanctity, He descends into creatures un-
worthy of His presence through the condescension of charity, and
fills the mind with His light, the heart with His sense, and the will
with His strength; removing evil, bringing good. To sanctify is to
purify and to unite with God, and He purifies with fire, and
unites with unction the soul that He embraces with charity.

In various forms were the seven gifts prefigured in the prophetic
ages, but in none more completely that in the seven-branched
candlestick that stood burning day and night in the holy sanctuary
of God's Temple. The stem of pure gold was a figure of Christ's
humanity, which, hypostatically united with His divinity, ascended
erect towards Heaven. The seven branches proceeding from the
stem were lilies of pure gold, united with the stem as the Spirit of
God is united with Christ, whose seven gifts embrace His pure
humanity. The seven golden lamps, ever burning with pure oil,
symbol the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost, burning in souls to the
honour and glory of God in the flames of charity, according to the
mind and sense of Christ. As the Apostle says : " Let this mind
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus ".t The three lamps on
the right hand are the lamps of illumination ; they are knowledge,
understanding, and counsel. The three lamps on the left hand,
the side of the heart, are the lamps of spiritual sense and power ;
they are fear, piety, and fortitude. The lamp in the middle crowns
the whole ; it rests on the stem, which is Christ, and this is the
lamp of wisdom.

The first lamp lighted in the soul is the lamp of fear; not of
servile fear, for that precedes the divine gifts, but of child-like fear
and reverence. This fear moves from charity : it is the chaste and

* Wisdom viii. 14. t Philippians IL 5.

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ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST. 171

venerating reverence that flows from the touch of the Holy Spirit
on the will, moving the soul to revere our Heavenly Father with
ease and promptitude, and to dread offending Him. This fear
despoils us of our own will, and makes us conscious that we belong
to God and not to ourselves. The beginning of this fear casts a
certain holy horror over the soul from the sense of the awful
Majesty of God, and makes us feel how little we are in His sights
how feeble before His Infinite power, before whom the angels
tremble, and whom nothing can resist. This fear strikes down
the folly of conceit, and humbles us into our nothingness. It
shows that we have no foundation in ourselves, and moves us with
humble and awe-struck reverence to seek our foundation in God.
It strikes a new sense into us, and gives birth to new resolution
that makes us obedient and patient, caring for little beyond the
will of God, and prompt to confess our failings and unworthiness.

This child-like fear is the true beginning of hope as well as of
wisdom ; for in detaching us from trust in ourselves, it sets us free
to trust in God. It is neither servile, worldly, nor carnal fear, but
the reverence of God in the fear of ourselves. Servile fear is the
dread of the slave under the lash of his master, although the
master's goodness may change that fear into loving reverence.
But so long as fear is servile, it places the love of self before the
love of God, and dreads His punishments more than it fears to
lose Him. Worldly fear is the dread of losing temporal advantages
or social reputation. Carnal fear is the dread of corporal privations,
sufferings, or death. The power of the gift of the fear of God is to
conquer these fears of the creature, to absorb them, and so banish
them from the soul ; and to restore us to our freedom and dignity,
because the gift of the fear of God delivers us from every other
fear.

The fear of the Lord expels pride, which is the radical deformity
of man. As St. Bonaventure observes, it introduces God through
the humility which it brings, because the man is brought under
the mighty hand of God. Wherefore, as St. Anselm justly con-
cludes : " The fear of the Lord is the beginning of the divine gifts,
and the Holy Spirit gives this fear for a foundation on which ta
build the other gifts *

The second lamp, with its golden vessel, oil, and flame, is the

S. Anselm. De Similitudinibus, c. 130.

172 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

gift of piety. Piety is that gift of the Holy Ghost which fills us
with child-like affection for our Heavenly Father, and inclines us
to love, honour, and worship Him. It is far more excellent to
honour God with a child's affection as our Father, than only to
honour Him with fear as our Creator, Lord, and Judge; and
therefore the gift of piety rises much higher than the virtue of
religion. By natural piety children love their parents; by that
piety which is the fruit of grace the Christian tends to the love,
honour, and worship of God. But the gift of piety is infused
from that same Eternal Fountain of piety in which the Holy Spirit
loves the Father and the Son, and is loved by them ; and this
divine infusion of piety softens the hardness of our nature,
enlarges the soul by the ardour which it enkindles, sweetens her
with unction, and draws her with tenderness towards God, to serve
Him with joy, and to worship Him with all her powers.

Hugo of St. Victor has beautifully described this gift as an affec-
tion and a devotion poured from the sweetness of the Divine
Benignity, that is both grateful in itself, and helpful to mankind. *

For these rays from the Sun of divine piety attract the soul into
which they enter to the Fountain of all beauty and sweetness,
whilst they devoutly incline us to the help of our brethren. Writ-
ing to St. Timothy, St. Paul takes this large view of the gift:
^* Exercise thyself unto piety. For bodily exercise is profitable to
little, but piety is profitable to all things, having promise of the
life that now is, and of that which is to come." t

Piety is also called godliness, as bringing all our affections unto
God ; for when endowed with this gift we cannot be contained
within ourselves, but must go forth, carried by the flame of piety
towards the Divine Unity, and moved by love of the Divine
Unity to works of mercy and compassion. Wherefore our Blessed
Lord in His piety was wholly given up in His interior to the
Divine Unity, and wholly given up in His exterior to us, in word,
in life, in death, and in the Holy Eucharist.

Piety is the sweet refreshment of a soul filled with the sense of
God, and with the consciousness of His friendship. It inspires a
disposition to expend the mercy received in works of mercy, both
corporal and spiritual. " This piety," to quote Hugo of St. Victor
again, " invites us to leave off despondency ; the love in it draws

* Hugo de S. Victore, De Claustro AninuBy L. iii. c. 5. +1 Timothy iv. 8.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST. 173

us from our own will ; the mercy in it pacifies our irritability ; the
cheerfulness in it makes us feel secure ; the affability in it leads to
familiarity, and familiarity reveals the divine secrets. When those
divine secrets are opened they produce friendship ; friendship is
preserved by having one spirit, and humility brings us near to
God."* For, according to St. Paul, " He who is joined to the
Lord is one spirit '\t

The third lamp on the left of the golden candlestick is the gift
of fortitude. Fortitude is that gift of the Holy Ghost which infuses
strength into the will, that it may control the irascible appetite,
and give force and courage both to do and to endure great things
with the confidence of succeeding in the face of difficulties,
according to the will of God. It is also the work of fortitude to
repress the solicitations of concupiscence, and to repel the false
allurements of self-love, so as to remove the fears arising from
adversities and calamities.

Between the virtue and the gift of fortitude St. Antoninus has
drawn these four distinctions. First, the virtue of fortitude acts
within the limits of human nature, but the gift has its measure
from divine power. The Psalmist says: "By Thee I shall be
dehvered from temptation ; and through my God I shall go over
the wair\J That is, I shall overcome obstacles that my natural
strength could never master. Secondly, although the virtue of
fortitude gives courage to brave dangers, it has neither the force
nor the confidence to overcome them all ; but the gift of fortitude
enables us to brave all perils that come in the way of duty, and to
surmount them every one.

Thirdly, the virtue of fortitude does not extend to all difficulties,
because it rests too much on human strength, which is greater in
one faculty in one person, and less in another faculty in another
person. Thus one person will have strength to conquer concupis-
cence, and another to die for God's sake. But the gift of fortitude
rests not in our own power, but on the power of God ; and
consequently it extends to all difficulties, and suffices for all. This
was magnanimously declared by holy Job : " Deliver me, O Lord,
and set me beside Thee, and let any man's hand fight against me".§
Fourthly, the virtue of fortitude will not bring every undertaking

* Hugo de S. Victore, De Clausiro Aninue^ L. iii. c. 5.
1 1 Corinthians vi. 17. X Psalm xvii. 30. § Job xvii. 3.

174 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

to a happy conclusion, for it belongs not to man to carry all his
works safely through the evils and dangers that oppose their
completion. Death may interrupt them though nothing else
should interfere. But the gift of fortitude accomplishes all that
God directs us to do, and then brings us to eternal life, the happy
•ending of our undertakings as well as of our dangers. St. Paul
therefore says of this gift : " I can do all things in Him that
strengtheneth me".*

We must add another important distinction which the devout
Gerson has drawn from St. Thomas. When we are so placed that
we must either encounter great dangers or sufferings or else abandon
the good of virtue — the declaring of our faith, for example, or our
adhesion to the cause of justice — the virtue of fortitude will enable
us to suffer or to endure ; but the gift of fortitude will go much
farther, and will enable us to perfect our actions, as they embrace
the divine counsels or the state of perfection. It maybe objected
that this would limit the gift in its abundance to those who are
perfect : this however by no means follows ; because it is one
thing to have the gift as it exists in habit, and another to have it
in action through faithful co-operation. As a habit the gift is
given with charity, so that even the imperfect who are in charity
have the habit of fortitude ; but through neglecting to exercise the
gift, they have it not in action. But the perfect have brought the
habit of the gift into action, and have greatly increased it in reward
for their fidelity.!

The spirit of fortitude includes patience as a component part of
the gift ; and it is this gift of patience that "hath a perfect work,''
whereby we possess our souls in God. Much therefore that has
been said in these lectures of patience belongs more to the gift
than to the simple virtue. The gift demands that we rise in spirit
above all that is unlike to God ; that we account our native powers
but of little worth in comparison with the gift ; and that we freely
give up our will to the divine power and virtue to make us secure
in every combat. If we generously give up our will to the influence
of the Holy Spirit, it will take away all doubting, diffidence, fear,
shrinking, inconstancy and changeableness, wherever the will of
God shall manifestly appear. Hope will spring up that the gift

* Philippians, iv. 13. S. Antoninus, In Sentent. p. 4. tit. 13. c I.
+ Gerson, Compend, Theolog. De SepUm Bonis,

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ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOL V GHOST 175

will preserve us from mortal sin ; and that noble part of the virtue
called magnanimity will arise in a straightforward spirit, will allow
of no compromise, will despise whatever is vicious, and will make
but little account of what is earthly and therefore fluctuating.
Taking small care for these things, the magnanimous soul fears no
one but God, looks to no one as great or mighty except God, and
puts no great trust in any one but God.

The honest soul, and as no soul is honest without humility, the
humble soul, then, will ascend in union with the Holy Spirit above
all creatures to worship God with gratitude and praise. Praising
Him in her life more than her words, she will become magnani-
mous, robust, and unconquerable. The more sharply provocation
or temptation assails her, the more vigorous she will grow, com-
bating with the conscious and invincible power of God. In con-
templating the greatness and majesty of God the mind will become
simple, free from all narrow views and feelings, and in her growing
insight of His goodness she will not know how to praise Him
enough. Through this praise of God the soul will feel her own
insufficiency, and the very consciousness of what she herself is in
the presence of His unspeakable excellency will fill her spirit with
joy, salvation, and the beginning of beatitude. She may therefore
say with the Blessed Virgin : " My soul doth magnify the Lord ;
and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour

The gift of fortitude inspires courage to undertake great things.
What are those great things ? If we fimit them to what rises above
the ordinary events of life, the gift would be rarely needed. What
are the great things for which it is habitually given ? To under-
stand this it will suffice to consider that man is a fallen king who
has lost his royal state. Deny this who may, it is revealed to every
man in every hour of his life. He finds it within him in the strife
between good and evil. He finds it in those sublime instincts of
his heart that perpetually rebuke his degrading propensities. We
are called upon to reconquer the kingdom from which we have
fallen. This truth is the foundation of all religion, and of all wise
legislation ; it rests on the distinction between good and evil.
What brings us to God is good ; what takes us from God is evil.
Our great work is to recover the lost kingdom of Heaven.

The means of recovering this kingdom are of the same super-

* See Rusbrockius In Tabernamlum Fcederis^ c. 30.

176 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

natural character with our final end. God is the supreme object
of the soul, and those great means must come from God. To
employ them with courage and perseverance is therefore the great
thing to be accomplished, and for this the gift of fortitude is
essential The great means to be used are the theological and
moral virtues, summed up in the creed and the commandments.
Endowed with these virtues, and living in them, the man is
restored to God, becomes a king, possesses and rules himself, and
inherits the kingdom of Heaven.

This is the greatest and most difficult of all enterprises. Three
frightful powers are leagued against its success, and strive to cause
its failure : these are the world, the flesh, and the devil. We need
not speak here of the craft, cruelty, and hatred of the devil and his
legions. The flesh is the body that belongs to us, a heated furnace
that burns day and night with the fuel of unlawful aflfections ; with
covetousness, with disorderly appetites, with insubordination and
vanity ; with aversion, anger, hatred, audacity and sadness ; with
the love of lawless delights, with fear, with despondency. Like
another Eve, the flesh offers us the forbidden fruit, and invites the
soul to take delight in evil. Like the wife of Putiphar, it solicits
Joseph to dishonour. Like Delilah, it shears away the strength of
Sampson with his locks, and delivers the man up to the devil as she
gave up Sampson to the Philistines. Not only does the body
ensnare the soul to evil, but turns her away from good. There is
no kind of war which the body will not wage against the soul, and
no kind of sacrifice that the soul may not be called upon to make
to ensure her safety from the attacks of the body, and that not
merely in the interest of one virtue, but of all the virtues.

What is the world but a motley and immense crowd of renegades
from God, or from the virtues ? Yet this same world is not always
seen even by its own members for what it is ; notwithstanding its
foul errors, false philosophies, loose maxims, pretentious manners,
covert vices, and seductive charms. And yet, like the three chil-
dren in the Babylonian furnace, we must live in the midst of this
unruly conflagration, without being scorched by its flames. To
conquer the world, the flesh, and the devil is the most arduous of
all undertakings, and far exceeds our strength without the presence,
light, and power of the Holy Ghost. This is the first part of our
task. The second is to suffer.

To suffer well requires much greater fortitude than to act well

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST. 177

To act against evil, and to face the danger of evil, comes first in
point of time. But to suffer and endure is more essential fo
accumulating internal strength. This last is also more difficult
more noble, and more perfect. St. Antoninus, following St
Thomas, puts the argument in this shape. It is more diflScult to
combat with the strong than with the weak. But the attack takes
the position of the strong, and the defence the position of the
weak. He who attacks another sees nothing but a mere possible
and distant danger to himself. But he who receives the attack
must endure an evil that is actually present, and which must be
endured at the present time. An attack is made in an instant ;
but those who have to bear the attack must suffer for an indefinite
and uncertain length of time. It therefore requires much greater
fortitude and constancy of will to be firm and patient under the
danger, the attack, the pain and suffering of present evil, than to
enter actively upon a difficult work. Hence it is well known that
the most valiant soldiers are not those who are alert in attack, but
those who are patient and strong to endure assaults.

What has man to suffer? It should rather be asked : Wha
things has he not to suffer ? Pains and distress of body ; pains
and griefs of soul ; pains and sorrows of conscience ; and the
dread which they inspire. "Conflicts without, fears within."
Maladies to which every part of his mortal frame is exposed;
poverty, contradiction, injury, injustice ; the attacks of the world,
the flesh, and the devil. These are our attendants from the cradle
to the grave. Often is the devout Christian predestined to
exceptional sufferings, especially of the interior kind, that the
spirit may be made strong for eternity. Then, again, his virtues
irritate the devil and the world ; and at their hands he receives
providential sufferings for his purification and perfection in virtue.

But what is man ? Who is he that he should undertake to
scale Heaven, and to do this mighty feat in the face of all these
enemies ? His nature, his very name is weakness. Measure the
grandeur of his undertaking by the weakness of his nature, and
the difference between them represents the divine force of which
he stands in constant need. This feeble man, this feebler woman,
must become a strong living force through the Holy Spirit
dwelling within them.

Thanks to the divine gift of fortitude, the world for nearly
nineteen hundred years has witnessed wonders almost incredible.

178 ON THE GIFTS OJF THE HOLY GHOST.

It has seen millions of souls, poor and rich, ignorant and learned^
young and aged, men, women, and even children, in all climes, of
all races, courageous and constant to one grand and holy purpose ;
strong and vigorous in conquering temptations ; brave and magna-
nimous in enduring pain, adversity, and sorrow, for the sake of the
kingdom of Heaven. The world has seen the peaceful patience
and heroic constancy of the Christian Martyrs. The world has
seen the gentle fortitude, so gentle in its strength, of the confessors
of Christ, and their joy amidst countless sufferings. The world
has witnessed the patient toils and privations of the missioners of
truth, and of the daughters of charity. But quickly does the
world forget what its children should most take to heart.

Yet all this the world has seen. And what has it heard ? It
heard St Paul throwing defiance to the enemies of the soul in the
name of all the children of the cross. " I fear not.'' — " I can
do all things in Him that strengtheneth me." — "Who shall
separate us from the love of Christ?*' The world has heard
St. Francis taking poverty for his spouse, and greeting patience
as her sister. It has heard St. Teresa taking for the heroic maxim
of her life : " To suffer or to die It has heard the yet more
heroic maxim of St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi : To suffer, not to
die". It has heard St. John of the Cross uniting these two
maxims into one : " To suffer, and be despised for God's sake **.
How many like notes breathed from the gift of fortitude, and
praising the blessed good of sufferings, have resounded from the
hearts and lives of the Saints since the day when the Holy Ghost
came in fire upon the heads of the Apostles.*

The first branch on the right hand of the golden candlestick is
the gift of knowledge. In this gift the Holy Spirit moves the
mind and the will to form just and sure judgments in what belongs
to faith, and to distinguish what is from what is not of faith,
independently of all reasoning from secondary or created causes.
By this gift we also know what to do, and what to leave undone,
according to the law of justice. This is the science of the Saints,
of which the Book of Wisdom says : " The Lord hath led the just
w^n through right ways, and showed him the kingdom of God,
and hath given him the knowledge of holy things ".f St Thomas

♦ See Gaume, lyaiti du Smint Esprit, Vol. ii. c 30.
t Wisdom X. 10.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 179

thus explains the gift : " The divine knowledge is not from
reasoning, it is absolute and simple ; and the gift of knowledge
from the Holy Ghost is like to this, it is a certain partaken
resemblance of the divine knowledge. Distinct from the virtue
of faith, it perfects that virtue with greater light and know-
ledge."*

In the first place, the gift of knowledge gives us light to dis-
tinguish what is true from what is false, what is of God from what
is of the creature, what is solid from what is vain and imaginary,
and what is truly great from what only appears to be great, although
not so in reality. For example, it enables us to see the perfect
harmony that exists between humiliation, poverty, and suffering,
and the real wants of the fallen man ; and thus we learn to accept
them as the sick man takes his medicines, to save him from death
and restore him to health. It is a holy commerce, in which we
exchange what is temporary and trivial for a wealth that is im-
perishable. St. Paul understood this commerce well. "The
things," he says, " that were gain to me, I have accounted loss
for Christ. Furthermore, I count all things to be loss for the
excellent knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord : for whom I have
suffered the loss of all things, and count them all but filth that I
may gain Jesus Christ."t

Secondly, the divine gift of knowledge acts upon the will, and
brings judgment and action into harmony with the truth in the
mind. Thirdly, this knowledge radiates the light of truth upon
the sciences, shows their true place, and gives them their due
order, whilst it confirms, ennobles, and fertilized them.

The gift of counsel is the second luminous lamp on the right
of the golden candlestick. We can never run well or wisely
unless we know at what object and end we are aiming, and by what
course the prize may best be obtained. St. Antoninus defines the
gift of counsel to be that gift of the Holy Ghost which directs us
in all things that are ordained to bring us to our final end in God,
whether needful to our salvation or not. But in the searchings of
counsel man needs to be directed by God, to whom all things
are known. This is the gift of counsel.! And St Thomas
observes that the gift of counsel responds to the virtue of

* S. Thomas, Sum, 2. 2. q. 9, a. I. f Philippians iii. 7-8,

{ S. Antoninus, In Sentmt p. 4. tit. 12. c. I.

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i8o ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST.

prudence, which it keeps and perfects.* Pradence results
from the good use of counsel in what r^ards the con-
duct of life and the management of afi^drs. But himian
prudence often £uls, whilst divine prudence never Ms those souls
who act by its inspiration. At first there may be doubts and
hesitations, but this is only the sifting and clearing off of what is
human, fanciftil, or erroneous in our deliberations, of which the
light of counsel makes us conscious; whilst, with the help of
patience and humility, the counsel of the Holy Spirit will shine
out clear in the end, and that in a way that cannot be mistaken,
because it puts the mind at peace. There is also given a grace to
the will to carry out in action what has been resolved upon by
counsel

But we should much mistake the gift of counsel in supposing
that its light is always given to the individual whom it concerns
directly. The Holy Spirit provides for the ftmdamental and
essential virtue of humility, without which the plentitude of the
gift cannot be received. He therefore often conceals from one
what He makes known to another, and guides the one to seek
light from the other, that the humility of the act may open the
mind to receive the light of counsel. Again, it is written, that
" where there is much counsel there is safety ".f Counsel collects
into one what the Divine Wisdom distributes to several, giving
light to one and the desire of light to another, who obtains it by
consultation. Hence holy Tobias admonishes his son : " Seek
counsel always of a wise man % And we are taught by the Holy
Spirit : " Be at peace with all men, but let one in a thousand be
thy counsellor § St. Bernard points to a double leprosy that
eats into the soundness of counsel, self-will and self-interest, both
of which listen more to the perversity of nature than to the
guidance of God.

The third lamp on the right is the gift of understanding. This
gift is a supernatural light that descends through the mind into
our spiritual nature, and lifts up our spiritual sense to penetrate
that truth which is given to the receptive mind or memory,
enabling us to comprehend it, and make it our own ; and so to
bring it into use and application in the practical intelligence. It

* S. Thomas, Sum. 2. 2. q. 52. a. I. + Proverbs xi. 14.

} Tobias iv. 19.

§ Ecclus. vi. 6.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST. i8i

is of little avail to have truth in the mind unless it be received into
the understanding. But by bringing the understanding through
the act of the will into commerce with the light of truth in the
mind, that is, by attention, by consideration, by reflection, and by
meditation, we bring the truth presented to the mind into our
spiritual nature, and thus make it our own. But the knowledge
that God offers to us can never really become our own, until, by the
searching which the Holy Spirit moves us to make, that truth
descends into our spiritual sense, and takes possession of the
powers of the will, that what we see with our understanding we
may feel in our inmost life, giving our active consent to the light
in us that accords with the light in God. Then, as St. Augustine
observes : " Understanding of truth cleans the heart of carnal
affection, that pure intention may direct us towards our final

By the gift of understanding the Holy Spirit purifies the eye of
the soul, and leads us into ourselves, where we begin to understand
what we are and what God is. And whilst we subject our under-
standing to God, His truth makes us children of the light. Moving
upwards through that light, we rise above our senses, above our
imagination, above the instincts of our nature, and enter with
intelligence into the presence of God. There we receive the gift
more abundantly in proportion as we die to ourselves ; and from
the gift there grows a singular virtue, having its origin in God and
its life in the will, a virtue that makes us watchful of good, and
conservative of the light of life. This vivid and luminous appetite
for good looks to God with great contentment, thanks Him, and
feels after Him through His manifold gifts. In this sense of God
the mortification of nature is constantly renewed, the spirit grows
in the grace of the Holy Ghost, and the divine light is preserved
in the soul. The soul delights in God, and the interior man is
renewed day by day.

The seventh lamp upon the golden stem crowns the other six
with the sovereign gift of wisdom. Who can declare the splendour
of this gift ? Implanted in the human heart, it illuminates divine
and eternal things, and gives us the sense of eternal good. Human
wisdom consists in the knowledge of things in their causes, and
especially in their supreme cause. But the gift of divine wisdom

end

* S. August. Serm. De Timore,

i82 ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST

is a certain created participation of the Holy Spirit as He is the
Eternal Wisdom. That Eternal Wisdom is the infinite light of
the infinite love of the Father and the Son in the person of the
Holy Ghost In the words of St Bonaventure : " The wisdom that
descends to us from above is the splendour of truth in the delight-
ful sense of good. Having God for its chief object, as He
is the true good that attracts our will to Him, it draws us to love
God, and to delight in Him. Wherefore," concludes the great
Doctor and Saint, "the gift of wisdom is a supernatural habit infused
into the soul by the Holy Spirit, enabling us to know, to love, and
to delight in God." *

This gift is given in its abundance to the pure of heart, and is
chiefly cultivated in contemplation. For contemplation brings the
soul nigh to God, where she receives the impress of His likeness
in much simplicity, and where, ascending above the creature, the
soul absorbs the sense of God. But the sense of God is wisdom.
" We begin with the gift of fear/' says St Augustine, ''and passing
step by step through the intermediate gifts, we reach their consum-
mation at last in the gift of wisdom. This is the final gift, because
it tranquillizes the soul, and makes her peaceful, fruitful, and
joyful."t "The Holy Spirit," observes St. Anselm, "accumulates
this gift upon His other gifts, when He breathes wisdom into the
soul, enabling what is correctly known by the gift of understanding
to be sweetly relished in the gift of wisdom, in virtue of which we
pursue what is excellent from pure love. Dwelling in this house
of the soul with His gifts, the Holy Spirit rules the whole family of
the souPs interior senses, and so disposes them in His service that
they ascend to God, and, without departing from God, they
descend to the service of our neighbour. That soul is therefore
able to say with the Psalmist ; * The Lord ruleth me, and I shall
want for nothing. He hath set me in a place of pasture.' " $

This wisdom is the " unction from the Holy One " that teacheth
all things : the light that illuminates all darkness : the lambent fire
that played on the heads of the Apostles. The Wise Man had
experience of this light, this unction, this ardent fire when he wrote
this praise of wisdom. " I wished, and understanding was given to

* S. Bonaventura, DeDono Sapiential c. i.
t S. August. De Doctrina Christiana^ c. 7.
t Psalm xxii, 1-2. S. Anselm, De Siinilitt*dinibu5^ c. 31.

ON THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST 183

me : and I called upon God, and the Spirit of wisdom came to me,
and I preferred her to kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches
as nothing in comparison of her. ... I loved her above health
and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light For her light
cannot be put out. She is an infinite treasure to men, which they
that use become the friends of God, being commended for the gift
of discipline. For in her is the spirit of understanding : holy, one
manifold, subtle, eloquent, active, undefiled, sure, sweet, loving
that which is good, quick, which nothing hindereth, beneficent,
gentle, kind, steadfast, assured, secure, having all power, overseeing
all things, and reacheth everywhere by reason of her purity. Her
have I loved, and have sought her from my youth, and have desired
to take her for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty.
Give me wisdom, that sitteth by Thy throne, and cast me not off
firom among Thy children. Send her out of Thy holy Heaven, and
from the throne of Thy Majesty, that she may be with me, and
may labour with me, that I may know what is acceptable to Thee."*

* Wisdom vii.-ix.

LECTURE X.

ON PRAYER.

" All things, whatsoever you ask when you pray, believe that you shall
receive, and they shall come to you." — S. Mark xl 24.

BEFORE entering upon the important subject of patience in
prayer, it will be expedient to give some instruction on the
true spirit of prayer. The path of prayer is the King's highway
from earth to Heaven. Whilst the body remains on its kindred
earth, the spirit ascends on the wings of grace into that divine
region of light and good for which she was created. This royal
path leads the soul into the Eternal Presence, there to plead her
cause with her Creator and Sovereign Lord; there to converse in
the humble spirit of child-like affection with her Heavenly Father ;
there to receive His good and perfect gifts. This royal highway to
God was opened for us by our Lord Jesus Christ ; was consecrated
by His prayers and sufferings ; and was illuminated by His ascen-
sion to Heaven through the path which He opened. By His
Incarnation He bridged the whole distance between the creature
and the Creator. He is Himself the way, the Hght of the way,
and its security. Through Him we have access to the Father,
who answers us with mercy and benignity. " I go to the Father :
and whatsoever you ask the Father in My name, that will I do :
that the Father may be glorified in the Son." *

This holy path of prayer was figured in the vision of Jacob.
Reposing in solitude with his head upon a stone, he saw a ladder
ascending from earth to Heaven, and the Lord leaned upon the
ladder, and the Angels of the Lord ascended and descended.
They ascended with the prayers of mortals, and descended with

+ S. John xiv. 13.

ON PRAYER.

the gifts of God. Prayer is the golden key that unlocks the
celestial treasury to our spiritual wants, and opens the door of God's
providence to our temporal necessities. In bountiful reply to the
cry of our hearts, comes that holy light which enlightens our
minds, that grace of life which removes our offences, that fire of
charity that kindles our soul with love, that fortitude which
strengthens us with the gifts of the Holy Ghost In a word,
prayer is the commerce of the soul with God through Jesus Christ
in the supreme affair of our salvation and perfection. I am the
way, and the truth, and the life. No one cometh to the Father
but by Me."*

Prayer is, therefore, the noblest and most exalted action of
which man is capable through the grace of God. It is the sub-
limest act of the human intelligence, and the greatest act of the
human will. If we put its whole grandeur into a sentence, it is
the action of God's created image seeking union with her Divine
Original, and seeking it so that this image may be healed from
offence, and perfected into likeness by the reception of life from
the Eternal Life, and be prepared for beatitude through the gifts
that descend from God's infinite perfection. So wonderful is the
power of true prayer as to make it evident to reason as well as to ;
faith that its efficacy can never depend upon such weak and sinful
creatures as we are. Again, there are obstacles in our own nature,
in those many and strong attractions to ourselves, against the
exercise of true and pure prayer, which not only require a Divine
Mediator of prayer, but a Divine Mover of prayer. This Mover
is the Holy Spirit of God. St. Paul has taught us this : " We hope
for that which we see not : we wait for it in patience. Likewise
the Spirit helpeth our infirmity. For, we know not what we should
pray for as we ought : but the Spirit Himself asketh for us with
unspeakable groanings, and He that searcheth the hearts, knoweth
what the Spirit desireth : because He asketh for the saints accord-
ing to God."t

The Holy Spirit is the prime mover of all the true prayer that
created spirits offer in supplication or adoration to the Holy
Trinity. He is also the helper and supporter of our supplications.
But these prayers obtain their effective power from the sacrifice
and the pleadings of our Lord Jesus Christ Such is the sublime

* S. John ziv. 6. f Romans viii. 25-27.

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ON PRAYER,

dignity of prayer. What, then, is our part in this holy exercise ?
To follow the inspirations, to obey the movements and attractions
of the Holy Spirit. The Divine Comforter of souls, whom Jesus
Christ promised us to be our Paraclete, our other Advocate with
the Father, moves us to repentance, dwells in our heart by charity,
and helps our infirmity with the light of His wisdom and the
power of His gifts. Our prayers are then attached to the prayers
of Jesus Christ, our sufferings to His sufferings, and our patience
to His patience. The Holy Spirit, the most sublime lover of our
souls, moves our will by His grace, and sustains our humble
petitions ; and we, when we pray in spirit and in truth, respond to
His movements, and, whilst groaning under our mortal burden,
sigh in desire beyond what words can express to be delivered from
all that is weak, sinful, and miserable in ourselves, and to be brought
to the perfect charity and peace of God.

Such is the sublimity of Christian prayer. Moved and helped
by the Holy Spirit, resting for its efficacy on the merits of Christ,
and formed in the soul by humble obedience to those divine
inspirations, the prayer of the Christian transcends the whole
order of creation, and for the love of His Incarnate and Crucified
Son, and of the loving action of His Holy Spirit, the Father
beholds that prayer with clemency, and repays it with mercy and
bounty. The soul herself is drawn to follow her prayer, and, in
following, approaches near to God. The spirit is humbled in the
consciousness of her wants \ the heart is opened, and filled with
reverence; the virtues rise into our prayer, and receive greater
perfection from this holy exercise. Truth is enlightened to us,
hope is elevated, love is enkindled, repentance deepened. For
the divine virtues rest the soul on God, and adhere to Him as
their one true object. Such is the spirit of true prayer. If trial
comes to darken the understanding and dry the affections, so long
as right intention remains, the efficacy of prayer is not lessened ;
but it is rendered more effectual through the greater faith and
patience with which it is continued. For the object of prayer is
not to please ourselves, but to honour God, and to open to Him
the desires of our heart ; and the more our prayer costs us, the
more precious it is in the sight of God. We then fully realize the
words of St. Paul : " We hope for that which we see not : we wait
for it in patience

Prayer, then, is not an affair of words, but an action of the

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ON PRAYER.

187

internal spirit. Words are but an imperfect instrument for the
manifestation of the deeper movements of the soul. There is a
great deal in the action of true prayer which words are incapable
of expressing. The truest word of prayer is the interior and
spiritual word, that word of the spirit which consists in the silent
movement of the souPs desires towards God. The posture of the
body, again, should be a kind of silent word expressive of the
interior posture of the soul. Of the prayer of words without the
prayer of the heart the Almighty speaks with indignation. " This
people draw near Me with their mouth, and with their lips glorify
Me, but their heart is far from Me, and they have feared Me with
the doctrines and commandments of men." *

" The hour cometh," saith our Lord, and now is, when the
true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the
Father seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit, and they that
adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth.*' t When there-
fore our Lord gave us a form of prayer, made His sacrifice the
centre of worship, and ordained His sacraments, He required that
we should put our spirit into His prayer, and our heart into His
sacrifice and sacraments. St. Paul has indicated the vast differ-
ence between the spiritual prayer of the New Law and the
ceremonial prayer of the Old, where he says : " I will pray with the
spirit, I will pray also with the understanding : I will sing with the
spirit, I will sing also with the understanding ".J We adore the
Father in truth when we pray in the faith of Christ Jesus, the
Eternal Truth ; we adore Him in spirit when we pray in the grace
of His Holy Spirit. For ''grace and truth came by Jesus Christ §

When therefore we assist at the Holy Sacrifice in which Jesus
Christ the very truth pleads for us, or join in the solemn offices of
the Church, or, "having shut the door, pray to the Father in
secret," our prayer must be in spirit and in truth, and the words
we use must express the inward movements and desires of the
heart. " For the Father seeketh such to adore Him."

Hence vocal prayer should be mental as well as vocal, and
spiritual as well as mental. Whenever we say the Lord's prayer,
or the devout prayers which the Church provides, or recite the
inspired psalms, we must remember that the words are given us

* Isaias xxix. 13. + S. John iv. 23-24. } i Corinthians xiv. 15.

§ S. John i. 17.

i88

ON PRAYER.

to waken up in our souls the profound sense of what they signify,
and to move us by spiritual action to put that sense into the words
we utter, that the mind may accord with the voice. " True prayer,"
observes St. Gregory the Great, "is not to be found in the words
of the voice, but in the thoughts of the heart The voices that reach
the ears of God are not words but desires. If we seek the eternal
life with our lips, without desiring that life with our heart, our out-
cry is nothing but silence. But when we desire that life from our
heart, though our mouth be silent, in that silence we cry to God." *
Hence holy Job exclaims : " Who will grant me a hearer, that the
Almighty may hear my desire? f And the Psalmist says: "The
Lord hath heard the desire of the poor : Thy ear hath heard the
preparation of their heart % All true prayer, even that which is
called vocal, resolves itself into mental and spiritual prayer. It
includes the internal motives that enlighten and elevate the mind,
and the internal aspirations of desire that move the soul towards
God ; and the words are but the outward expression of those inter-
nal motives and movements. True vocal prayer, therefore, is the
outward language of internal adoration and of supplication in spirit
and in truth.

Pure mental prayer uses no external words, but only internal
words. The more the soul is habituated to this interior prayer,
the more perfectly will she make her vocal prayer. This needs no
proof : for it is obvious that when the soul is accustomed to interior
recollection, she will carry that recollection with ease into her vocal
prayer ; and as the truly recollected soul sees God everywhere, she
will especially find Him in the language of prayer, which, to the
recollected heart, is the most congenial of all languages.

The hand has five pliant and docile fingers which lay hold
of their objects and do their work, but the three first have the
chief power. The soul has also five faculties, which are employed
in mental prayer, and by means of which we take hold of the objects
of the soul and work with them. But of these faculties three are
principal and purely spiritual : the memory, in which our light and
knowledge are stored ; the understanding, by which we draw light
and knowledge from the stores of memory ; and the will, by which
we consent to or refuse what is before us, by which we love or hate,

• S. Greg. Mag. MoraJia in Job, L. xxxi. c. 17. f Job xxxi. 35.
X Psalm X. 17.

ON PRAYER.

189

by which we desire or refuse to desire, by which we assent or dissent,
and by which we make resolutions to determine and guide our
actions.

But besides these three superior faculties there are two others
which, when they work in their right and proper order, are subor-
dinate to them. These are the imagination, which gives to the
mind the images of external and visible things ; and the interior
sense, which on its inferior side is in communication with the cor-
poral senses, and on its superior side is in communication with
the spiritual gifts of God, whereby we feel the things of God that
move our spiritual affections. St. Paul says : They that are
according to the spirit mind the things that are of the spirit." * And
again : " Strong meat is for the perfect : for them who have their
senses exercised in the discerning of good and evil ".t

Through the help of the imagination we represent to ourselves
the life of Christ, the truths of the gospel, and the mysteries of faith,
but in ways that are more or less figurative. These pictures of the
mind are illuminated by the light given us, and are perfected from
the stores of truth in our memory. The next step is to penetrate
with the understanding through these sensible images, or words,
into their interior and spiritual sense, and thus rise from the visible
representation to the pure truth as it is in God, feeling that truth,
feeding upon it, and absorbing it into the soul, as the bee extracts
honey from the flowers. Thus meditation is a gradual ascent of
the mind by the act of the will from the sensible representation of
sacred things formed in the imagination with the help of memory
to their interior and spiritual sense and signification ; and from
their interior sense and signification the mind ascends to the pure
truth as it is in God ; so that what begins in meditation ends in
contemplation.

" In my meditation," says holy David, "a fire shall flame out."j:
As truth enters the soul her desires open, the Holy Spirit of truth
moves the affections, the spiritual sense is touched with the flame
of love, and the soul is moved to love, to adore, and to resolve
upon her conduct. Meditation leads to contemplation as the
soul ascends in greater simplicity from the figures and images of
truth to the very truth as it is in God, divested by degrees of that

om. viiL 5.

tHeb. V, 14.

X Psalm xxxviiL 4.

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190

ON PR A YER.

sensible and multiplied imagery with which it is clothed to cm-
senses and imagination. The soul looks into that truth, and feels
that truth with a simple eye and a simple heart, and so receives it
by dwelling upon it, that it greatly increases the knowledge of God
and of ourselves. For when by the divine attraction the soul rises
from the labour of meditation to the simple tranquillity of con-
templation, God makes a partial revelation of Himself to the
contemplating soul, and " in His light we see light

Thus the will uses the imagination to represent those visible
things that help to bring the mind to God, and especially, with
the help of memory, brings the mind into contact with the person,
life, words, actions, sufferings, death, and glorious mysteries of our
God and Saviour Jesus Christ. The understanding, enlightened
by fiaith, penetrates into the interior spirit and sense of what the
imagination externally represents to us. But it is the will that
moves the understanding to "dispose ascensions in the heart,*
rising from truth to truth until our soul rests upon the One
Supreme Truth and Infinite Good, who is the final end of all
desire, and therefore of all prayer. Our spiritual sense, most in-
timately connected with the will, and the receptive cause of our
spiritual affections, when it is touched by the Spirit of God, is that
which gives us the feeling of refreshment and consolation in
prayer. Touched by the light and sense of God, the will bends
down our whole being to His divine influence ; and illuminated
by His truth, lays open her infirmities and her wants to His mercy
and goodness, and performs all the offices of prayer and praise.

The great obstacles to prayer are self-love, the inconstancy of
the will, and the sadness that results from self-love and inconstancy.
Self-love draws our sense, thought, and will to ourselves, instead
of surrendering them to God and to the guidance His Holy
Spirit This causes the will to vibrate like a pendulum, but in a
very unsteady way, between God and one's self, making the soul
restless, impatient, inattentive, and wandering. Yet we cannot
look to God and to ourselves at the same time : we cannot feel
after God and after ourselves at the same moment This is not
pure prayer, but prayer mixed with distraction, self-love, and con-
fusion. This generates sadness, which injures or destroys the zest
for prayer. Yet this gives us no knowledge of ourselves, because

* Psalm XXXV. 10

ON PRAYER.

191

we learn to know ourselves as we are reflected in the light of

Prayer is either public or private. Public prayer is essentially
vocal, that all who are assembled for its performance may unite
and pray in common. To all who are thus united, with one heart
and soul, especially in the Church, or in the family, our Lord has
promised that He will be in the midst of them. But if the Father
seeks the true adorers to adore Him in spirit and in truth,
why do we use vocal prayer ? First, because Christ has taught us
to use vocal prayer, and has given us a perfect form of it by way
of example. Secondly, because as members of the Church we
owe to God and to each other the public communion of prayer, as
well as mutual edification. Thirdly, because vocal prayer is
designed for the outward expression of internal prayer, the prayer
in spirit and truth. Fourthly, because the words and signs of
prayer, especially those provided by the Church, awaken the
inward mind and heart to apprehend the light and sense of
prayer, and move the affections to lift up the soul in prayer. As
St. Augustine says : " By words and signs we are more keenly
wakened up to holy desires Fifthly, as our body has been the
instrument of sin, it should be made the submissive instrument of
the service of God.

Sixthly, the united supplication of heart and voice especially
becomes those who pray for the remission of their sins. The
Prophet Osee says to sinful Israel : " Take with you words, and
return to the Lord, and say to Him : Take away all iniquity, and
receive good : and we will render the calves of the lips ".f The
calves of the lips is a figurative expression for the sacrificial
offerings of the voice. The tongue is a great oflfender ; it should
therefore be a great expiator. Seventhly, it may be added that a
humble posture of body, responsive to the humility of soul,
especially becomes us in penitential and supplicatory prayer, that
the whole man may be vocal as well as the voice. Hence the
custom from the beginning of the Church of not only kneeling,
striking the breast, and prostrating, but also of extending the arms
in supplication towards heaven, that the body may not only not
oppose or contradict the movements of the soul, but may express
and help her pious movements.

* S. August Epist 130 ad Frobam, t Osee xiv. 3,

God.

192

ON PRAYER.

St Augustine has- pointed out another excellence of vocal prayer,
namely, that whilst the words help to lake us from distraction and
raise our mind to God, they remind us of what we are, of what we
want, and of what we ought to desire from God When, for
example, we cast our eyes on the words of the Lord's prayer, they
become as a luminous mirror in which the Divine Master of prayer
shows us the excellence and fruitfulness of prayer, the chief wants
of the soul, and the virtues to be put forth in prayer.

The fundamental condition of prayer, essential for obtaining its
end, is attention. But this attention depends for its constancy
and perseverance on the virtue of patience, as we shall explain in
the next lecture. We shall here give the doctrine of attention from
St. Thomas, the prince of theologians, because anxious and timid
souls stand in need of a great authority to quiet their apprehen-
sions, and to put them at peace with respect to distractions
in prayer.

Even holy persons are subject at times to wanderings in prayer,
and the holy Psalmist says of himself : " My heart is troubled, my
strength hath left me, and the light of my eyes is not with me
Yet he had said just before: "Lord, all my desire is before
Thee **. * Vocal prayer requires two kinds of attention: attention to
the words, and attention towards God. But the first and most neces-
sary attention is to the end of prayer, which is an elevation of our
attention to God. This is necessary to prayer. The second is
the attention necessary for obtaining the effects or fruits of prayer.
The fruits of prayer are of three kinds ; these are the merit of
prayer, the obtaining of what we ask for in prayer, and the refiresh-
ment given to the soul in prayer.

The first effect or fruit of prayer, as of all good works done in a
state of grace and charity, is its merit, always, be it understood,
through the merits of our Lord Jesus Christ. To obtain this fruit
it is not necessary that actual intention should continue through
the whole prayer; because the force of the first intention with
which the prayer is begun continues virtually throughout, and
renders the whole prayer meritorious.

The second effect, and that which is proper to prayer, is to
obtain the divine answer to our prayer. To obtain this result the
first intention will also suffice, because God looks principally to

^ Psalm xxxvii. lo-ii.

ON PRAYER,

193

that intention. But if there is no first intention begun, prayer
cannot be meritorious, nor will it obtain the good we came to ask
for. For, as St. Gregory says, God hears not the prayer of him
who gives no attention to his prayer. But it should be noted, that
attention to God whilst we pray is attention to prayer.

The third effect or fruit of prayer is its immediate influence on
the soul, in giving that soul a certain refreshment and consolation.
This of necessity requires a continual attention to prayer. Hence
St. Paul says : " If I pray in a tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my
understanding is without fruit * The Apostle speaks of a tongue
that is unknown to him who prays, and which he therefore cannot
understand.

We must next understand that there are three kinds of attention,
any of which may be given to the words of vocal prayer. We may
attend to the words alone, so as to make no mistake in repeating
them ; or to the sense of the words as well ; or to the object and
end of prayer, that is to God, and to the good that we seek of God.
This last is the necessary and essential attention, an attention
which even the simplest and most unlettered minds can give.
Sometimes, as Hugo of St. Victor observes, in holy souls devoted
to prayer, this attention to God is so abundant, that for the time
all things else are forgotten. And we ourselves have known
certain holy souls with such a gift of prayer, and from time to
time so absorbed in God, that on first returning to themselves
they knew not where they were, nor what was around them.

From these principles and their explanation, we are now in a
position to draw the following conclusions. First, we pray in
spirit and in truth when we approach to prayer from the move-
ment of the Holy Spirit, even though in the course of prayer the
mind should wander owing to infirmity. Secondly, we must under-
stand that the human mind, on account of its infirmity, cannot
remain in an elevated state of recollected prayer for long, because
the weight of infirmity brings the soul down to inferior things. It
thus happens that when the mind has ascended to God in con-
templation, after a time it will suddenly go astray, and that from no
other cause than the infirmity of nature. Thirdly, if any one of
set intention wanders away in mind from attention to prayer,
this is sinful, and it hinders the fhiit of prayer. But those dis-

* I Corinthians xiv. 14.
13

Digitized by

194

ON PRAYER.

tractions of mind that are not intentional do not take away the fruit
of prayer. St. Basil says: '*If, through being enfeebled by sin,
you cannot pray with fixed attention, hold your attention together
as much as you can, and God will pardon your defects ; because
it is not from negligence but from frailty that you cannot keep your-
self in God's presence as you ought *

Fourthly, it will give a most valuable light to prayer, if we
further consider with St. Thomas how great the distinction is
between the present consolation received in prayer and the future
benefits to be derived from it Consolation is not always felt in
prayer ; and when it is absent, the soul is sometimes tempted to
imagine that the essential rewards of prayer have not been
obtained, because they have not been made sensible to us in the
time of prayer. But this notwithstanding, they are in the hands
of God for our future good. To express the truth briefly, and in
the words of the famous Doctor Alexander Hales : In our present
state, in which our fallen nature is undergoing reparation, we
advance to God more through adversity than through prosperity,
and this is true even in prayer. Our faith, trust, love, humility,
and patience are perfected by adhering to God without present
consolation, whenever God so wills it, and without our having the
present knowledge of the good things which God has in store for
us.

Like every other good act, prayer obtains its merit from the
root of charity which the Holy Spirit gives us ; but the proper
object of charity is the Eternal Good, which it prepares us to
enjoy. The prayer that proceeds from charity, and obtains the
good things of Heaven, is also accompanied in a special manner
by those other virtues that belong to the good of prayer, by faith,
by humility, by patience, and devotion. Faith believes that we
shall obtain what we seek ; humility knows how much we stand in
need of what we seek ; patience gives steadfastness to our atten-
tion ; and devotion prefers God to all things.

The granting of our petitions is from the grace of God by whom
we are attracted to pray. But, as St Augustine observes, God
would not move us to pray if He did not wish to give. And St
Chrysostom remarks that God never denies His benefits to those
whom His paternal piety instigates in such a manner that they do

* S. Basil. De ComiihUionibus Monasticis^ c. i.

ON PR A YER.

195

not fail in praying to Him. Our Divine Lord Himself assures us
that " Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in My name, that will
I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son These are
divine words, words of truth addressed to our belief, and deserving
to be diligently taken to heart. In the same* divine discourse our
Lord says again : Amen, amen I say to you, if you ask the
Father anything in My name, He will give it you ".f How He
will give it we shall see presently.

But the prayer that proceeds not from sanctifying grace has no
divine element in it, and has no more merit than any other good
action that is not done in charity. Yet even the prayer that
implores the grace of conversion and the gift of sanctifying grace
proceeds from an awakening grace, for prayer is always the gift of

We shall better understand the merit of prayer, if we keep this
principle in mind, that prayer is chiefly and before all things
ordained with respect to our final beatitude. When, therefore,
we ask for other things, if they stand in the way of our beatitude,
they will not be granted, because this would not contribute to our
greater good. If then we ask anything of God for ourselves
which He sees would not be useful towards our beatitude, it would
be of no merit to obtain what we ask for. But when our intention
is good, God in His goodness will give us, not what we think it
would be best to receive, but what He sees it will be best to give,
and what will contribute to our eternal life. Hence St Augustine
says : " When we ask of God in good faith for the necessities of
this life. He is as merciful when He does not hear as when He does
hear us ; for the physician knows better what is good for the sick
man than the sick man knows himself ".J When St Paul prayed
to be freed from the thorn in his flesh his prayer was not granted
because it was not expedient for him, but grace was given him to
bear it.

It remains to consider the words of St. Luke : " And He spoke
to them a parable, that we ought always to pray, and not to
faint And the words of St. Paul : " Pray without ceasing. In
all things give thanks : for this is the will of God in Jesus Christ

God.

* S. John xiv. 13. + S. John xvi. 23.

X S. August. In Senteniiis a S. Prospero collectist Smtettt, 212,
§ S. Luke xviii. i.

196

ON PR A YER.

concerning you all.''* And those words to Timothy: "I will
therefore that men pray in every place, lifting up pure hands with-
out anger or contention".! To understand this doctrine of
perpetual prayer we must draw a distinction between the spirit of
prayer and the formal exercise of prayer ; or, as St. Thomas puts
it, between the cause of prayer and actual prayer. The spirit or
cause of prayer is in the desires of charity, from which all prayer
ought to proceed. These desires of charity ought to be continual,
if not in act, at least in habit and virtually j for this virtual desire
abides in all that we do from the love of God. It is in this sense
that our prayer should be continual and never ceasing. So
St. Augustine instructs Proba : " As long as our desires continue
in faith, hope, and charity, we are always praying

But the actual exercise of prayer cannot be continual, because
we have other works to do and other duties to engage our minds.
But, as St. Augustine teaches in the same instruction : We have
certain hours and intervals of time in which to pray to God in
words, that helped by those signs we may admonish ourselves, and
know how far we have advanced in holy desires, and may more
keenly awaken up ourselves to increase them In God's sight
holy desires are prayers.

As food is proportioned to corporal health, prayer should be
proportioned to spiritual health. Whilst we perform our due
share of public prayer and our regulated duty of private prayer,
what is left to free choice should not be continued further than
will do us the good of keeping up the fervour of interior desire.
Beyond this measure it will become tedious and distracting, and
will cause a distaste for prayer. But this measure is very different
for different persons. There are highly privileged souls, though
rare, whose interior habit of prayer is almost continual, though not
in words yet in recollection. Yet so far from interfering with
external duties and conversation, this interior recollection is of
great profit to them.

This brings us to that method of prayer which is called aspirative
or ejaculatory. This prayer consists of brief aspirations, or short
and fer\dd sentences, sped like arrows from the heart. It is a
prayer of inestimable value, that can be used at all times and in

* I Thessalonians v. 17-18. +1 Timothy ii. 8.

t S. Augustin. Epist 130 ad Probam,

ON PRAYER.

197

all places, and interiorly amidst all occupations. It keeps up the
flame of desire, fosters the interior life, and when it becomes
habitual is an unspeakable consolation. Owing to its brevity,
purity, and simplicity, it neither wearies the soul nor is subject to
distraction. These qualities, and especially its efficacy in nourish-
ing the flame of spiritual desire, made it the favourite devotion of
the hermits and conventuals of the desert; and it is still the
favourite method of all truly devout persons. It is suited to every
mind and disposition, even to those who find it difficult to fix
their attention in other kinds of prayer. It is an invaluable
resource to those who have difficulties in meditation. It also
forms the more active part of contemplation.

To quote again the celebrated letter on prayer addressed by St.
Augustine to Proba : '*The body may be sound, but the soul can
never be sound and healthy that prefers temporal to eternal things.
But where the love of eternal things exists, this kind of prayer is
not only easy but delightful. We are told that the brethren in
Egypt use frequent prayers that are brief and swiftly ejaculated.
This they prefer to slower methods, that the vigilant slnd elevated
attention so necessary in prayer may not be dulled or dissipated.
In this they show that when attention cannot be sustained it
ought not to be deadened, but that when it is sustained it should
not be readily interrupted.*'*

Let us hear what those brethren in Egypt say themselves of this
aspirative prayer. They call it " brief and pure prayer," and St.
Benedict does the same in his Rule. They chose it for their
private prayer both in their cells and at their work. They said of
it that it was not subject to distractions or to temptations. Abbot
Isaac in the Conferences calls these short and frequent aspirations
the secret and familiar prayer within the cell of the heart, which
is open to none but God, the searcher of hearts ; so that the adverse
powers do not see this kind of petition, and cannot interfere with
it. "This brief and frequent prayer," he says, allows the
deceiver of souls no time to put anything into the heart. It is
true sacrifice, for a sacrifice to God is a contrite heart. It is the
sacrifice of justice, and the sacrifice of praise. These are rich
victims, holocausts with the marrow when offered by humble and
contrite hearts. When we make these offerings with spiritual

* S. Augustin. Epist. i^oad Probam,

198

ON PRAYER,

discipline and pure intention, we may sing with faithful virtue :
* Let my prayer be directed as incense in Thy sight : the lifting of
my hands as the evening sacrifice " *

AIL the prayers of the Church are reducible to aspirations.
The Lord's Prayer consists of seven aspirations in form of
petition, and they can be used separately as well as unitedly.
The Collects of the Church consist each of a briefly expressed
motive to inspire confidence, and an aspiration in form of petition.
The Psalms are full of brief forms of aspiration alternating with
motives. The Saints have left us many examples of their favourite
aspirations, which are fervent, luminous, and beautiful. But they
are always best when they come fresh and simple from the abun-
dance of the heart. Nor is repetition, and even frequent
repetition, undesirable when the soul is so inclined. On the
contrary, for love delights to dwell on the same sense, and to
prolong the same sweet melody of prayer and praise, returning to
it again and again, sustaining and deepening the same devout
aflection.

When our Blessed Lord rebuked the use of much speaking in
prayer, and called it a heathenish custom, He admonished us to
look to the spirit, object, and intent of prayer rather than to the
uttering of many words. God looks not to words but to desires.
On this subject St. Augustine has said everything in his instruc-
tion to Proba : " It is one thing," he says, " to speak much in
prayer ; it is another thing to pray much, and to extend the time
of prayer. It is written of our Lord that He passed whole nights
in prayer, and that * He prayed the longer ' ; but this was for an
example to us. Let there be much prayer when the intention is
fervent, but without much speaking ; for to speak much encumbers
the action of the spirit with superfluous words. To pray much is
to ascend towards God with the continual elevation of a devout
heart." There is nothing more injurious to the spirit of prayer
than the artificial composition of fine speeches : this is the work of
vanity and self-love, destructive of simplicity and sincerity of
heart.f

Mental prayer is purely interior, although interior words are not
absent, and especially the mental use of aspirative sentences.

* Cassian. CollaU 9, c 34-35.
tSee S. Thomas, Sum, 2. 2. q. 83. a. 12-15.

ON PRAYER.

199

According to the method pursued, mental prayer is divided into
meditation and contemplation. Meditation begins with visible
things presented to the- imagination, and ascends by degrees to
the invisible things of God. Contemplation has already found
the invisible things of God, and dwells upon them with wonder,
awe, and delight, whilst the soul is profoundly humbled into her
nothingness before the infinite majesty of God. Meditation
searches and feels after that truth and goodness which contempla-
tion has found, so that what begins in meditation may end in
contemplation.

When, placed in a narrow valley, our prospect is closed in on
every side, the view of the heavens above us is limited as well,
and we can only conjecture what there is beyond. But if we
toilsomely ascend the mountain side, on reaching the top the
prospect opens in all its magnificence, and the expansion of the
heavens above exalts the mind, and reveals to us what the earth
contains below. This laborious ascent resembles meditation ;
but contemplation is already on the mountain, and has neither to
imagine nor to reason, but only to look with admiration into the
prospect of truth which God from His heavens reveals to us.
Yet conscious of the limitations of our mind, and of the obscurity
of the created medium through which we see, we feel how little
and feeble is the creature before the Creator. Meditation is fruit-
ful with labour ; contemplation is more fruitful without labour.
Hence contemplation is a special gift of the Holy Ghost, and
perseverance in its exercise is founded upon the gift of funda-
mental patience or fortitude. Yet almost all souls have to make
their first beginnings of mental prayer with meditation.

St. Thomas observes that in our free and private prayer we use
words and signs, the crucifix for example, so long as they help to
dispose us to mental or interior prayer. But when they become a
distraction and a hindrance to interior recollection, the use of them
should yield to pure mental prayer.* When meditation itself
becomes a distraction, because the mind and heart tend to pure
recollection, and this habitually, it is the sign of a call to contem-
plation. This prayer the Psalmist describes in the following words :
" My heart hath said to Thee : my face hath sought Thee : Thy
face, O Lord, will I still seek ''.t But the Saints have a maxim

• S. Thomas, Sum, 2. 2. q. 83. a. 12. + Psalm xxvi. 8.

200

ON PRAYER.

that the meditation or contemplation of our Lord's Passion should
never be abandoned.

There are so many valuable manuals on the method of meditation
that it will be unnecessary here to say more on the subject. Those
who are still novices in interior prayer ; who have not yet mortified
the restlessness of their interior faculties into tranquillity ; who are
still much engaged with the senses and with sensual things ; who
have not yet gained much control over the imagination of sensible
things ; these will often require the help of a book to steady their
attention ; and when their meditative faculties are dull and refuse
to act, they should have recourse to aspirations, an exercise of
prayer that is always easy. One thing should be especially avoided,
that is, the converting of meditation into a study, as though it were
a literary exercise. This snare should be shunned most carefully ;
it not only destroys the child-like simplicity of prayer, but takes the
mind from God, the true object and end of prayer, and occupies
us with the vanities of self-love.

But " where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty The
Holy Spirit is the mover of prayer ; and though every one should
learn a good method of meditation, yet to tie the soul always to
that method in all its rules, would not only injure freedom, but
cause the soul to lose the touch and attraction of the Holy Spirit.
No one thinks of putting all the rules of grammar into every letter
that he writes ; no one thinks of putting all the rules of rhetoric
into every discourse that he delivers. His production would be a
chained-up folly. Rules are of value when required, not when out
of place. Those who look more to rules than to the spirit of prayer
are the pedants of prayer. They will never make much progress
in this holy exercise.

When one point in the meditation fills the soul with light, and
brings us to the divine end of prayer, why leave the end of prayer
already gained to go in search of another point ? This is to go
backwards instead of forwards, and will only bring distraction.
When the soul is ardently moved to aspirations in the sight of God,
she has reached the essence of prayer ; why return from this pure
prayer to the things of imagination ? This is to come down from
spiritual to visible things, and from the fervour of prayer to its first
beginnings. When meditation raises the soul to contemplation.

*2 Corinthians iii. 17.

ONPRAYER.

20I

to abandon that contemplation for the sake of obeying the rules of
meditation is like descending the steps of Jacob's ladder for no
other object than to endeavour to reascend. It is to come down
from the mountain of light into the valley of shadows. A little
of that pure and serene light will do more to teach us the knowledge
of God and of self than all that can be seen through the shadows
of the imagination. The Holy Spirit is the true teacher of prayer,
and the liberty of prayer consists in freely following the divine
attraction, which always leads to greater simplicity, humility, love,
patience, and union with God. *^ Commit thy way to the Lord, and
trust in Him. ... Be subject to the Lord and pray to Him." *

" The work of justice shall be peace, and the service of justice
quietness and security for ever."t It is very important for the
peace of the soul in prayer to remember that present consolation
is not the essential answer to prayer, and that its greatest effects
are obtainable without sensible consolation. The answer to prayer
is not always felt at the time, or even given at the time ; and its
greatest fruits are laid up in eternity.

Contemplation rises above the senses, above the imagination,
above all processes of the reasoning powers. Collected within
herself, the soul rises above herself, and with a simple view beholds,
though " darkly as through a glass," some manifestation of the
beauty, goodness, and greatness of God, which deepens her sense
of God, and affects her with wonder, admiration, and love, giving
her some foretaste of blessedness. Sometimes, however, this con-
templation is very obscure, and the presence and goodness of God
are felt as it were, through thick darkness rather than seen in open
light It gives to the humble and adoring soul either great light
and refreshment, or a secret sense of God, according as it is
luminous or obscure ; but in the latter case it gives us a
more humiliating knowledge of ourselves. The holy Psalmist
describes the divine source of contemplation in these words:
" With Thee is the fountain of life ; and in Thy light we shall see
light ".J And he aspirates his gratitude for the gift in these words:
" The light of Thy countenance, O Lord, is sealed upon us : Thou
hast given gladness to my heart §

The acts of contemplation are four : to seek after God, to find

* Psalm xxxvi. 5-7. f Isaias xxxii. 17. } Psalm xxxv. ID.

§ Psalm iv. 7.

202

ON PRAYER.

Him, to feel His sacred touch in the soul, and to be united with
Him and enjoy Him. St. Paul has expressed all this in a certain
way in his discourse to the Athenians. "That they should seek
God, if haply they may feel after Him, or find Him : although
He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live and
move, and have our being." * We seek after Him with our mind,
feel after Him with our spirit, find Him when the light of His
countenance shines upon us and the sense of His goodness pene-
trates our heart, and have our life and movement in Him when
we love Him with our whole heart, soul, and strength. We know
that we have our being in Him when He gives us the light to see
that He is all things to us, and that we are nothing in ourselves.
Wherefore the Psalmist says : " Seek ye the Lord, and be
strengthened ; seek His face ever more He must be sought
ever more, says St Gregory, because He must be loved ever more.

To contemplate is to be on the mountain of revelations with
Moses, or on the mountain of Transfiguration with the three
chosen Apostles, or at the feet of Jesus with Mary Magdalen. It
demands an abstraction, for the time at least, from mortal cares and
solicitudes. It not only calls for a mortified body but for a mortified
spirit, that the interior powers may be collected, may become serene
and peaceful, and the soul arise above all that is not God. Hence
the active life and the combat with nature precede the gift of con.
templation. " Contemplation," says St. Gregory, " is a sepulchre
in which all depraved works and things of this world are buried
together with the contumelies of the body and the petulance of the
imagination, whilst the spirit ascends by a holy operation to
behold the things of God. For you are dead ; that is to yourself;
and your life is hidden with Christ in God." \

The same great Pontiff and Doctor in another place draws this
distinction between the two kinds of life which God allots to those
who serve Him. Almighty God in His Holy Word instructs His
servants in two kinds of life, the active and the contemplative.
The active life feeds the hungry, instructs the ignorant, and corrects
the erring ; brings back the proud into the way of humility, has
care of the infirm, and provides subsistence for those who are
dependent on us. The contemplative life maintains the love of

* Acts xvii. 27-28. + Psalm civ. 4.
} S. Greg. Mag. Moral, in Job^ L. v. c 37.

ON PR A YER.

205

God and of our neighbour with the whole mind and heart, but
rests in peace from extreme activity, and adheres to the one desire
of God alone. Casting away all other cares, the soul bums with
the desire of seeing the face of her Creator. Knowing with grief
that she bears the load of her corruptible body, she thinks with
ardent desires how she may be present among the angelic choirs,
and with the heavenly citizens, there to enjoy the vision of her
incorruptible Creator for evermore. Yet she can only obtain the
sight of God's beauty in a certain measure, but a hand's breadth
as it were. For with whatever love she may be enkindled, with
whatever strength she may tend towards God, she is so far from
perfectly seeing what she loves, that in this life she only begins to
see. As the strenuous Apostle says: "We see now through a
glass in a dark inanner ; but then face to face. Now I know ia
part : but then I shall know even as I am known." *

To continue the celebrated instruction of St. Gregory : In con-
templation the mind strives to rise above the man, and stretches
forward unto spiritual things, endeavouring to transcend what is;
visible to the senses, and to reach what is celestial Thus the
spirit is drawn upwards that it may expand upon things divine.
At times the spirit conquers, and soars above the contentious
darkness with which at other times it is blinded, and the soul is
secretly and slightly touched by something from the incomprehen-
sible light of God. But by reason of her infirmity she soon returns
from that wonderful light, and falls back upon her darkness anew,
there to sigh in her obscuration. It should however be plainly
understood, that no one can advance so far in contemplation as to
penetrate even to one single ray of God's incomprehensible light.
The Almighty cannot be seen in His brightness. What is seen is
something beneath God ; but it greatly refreshes the soul, whilst
the glorious vision of God is reserved for the world to come.

St. Gregory himself is one of the greatest examples of the union
of the contemplative with the active life. Whilst governing the
Universal Church with vigorous energy, he never abandoned that
gift of contemplation which gave light and force to all his active
works. It is the privilege of saints and holy persons, when called
to the duties of the active life, to keep always within them a cell of
quiet recollection, into which God alone is allowed to enter ; and

* I Corinthians xiii. 12.

204

ON PRAYER.

being faithful to detachment as well as to recollection, they are
able to put aside external things in the tranquil hour devoted to
contemplation, the spirit of which continues with them amidst the
most energetic employments. This St. Gregory himself observes
in the same discourse : " Be it known that as the good order of
life tends from action to contemplation ; it is also often useful to
transform contemplation into action, that what contemplation
enkindles in the soul may come forth in the active duties of life
to make them more perfect'*.*

To understand the conduct of the soul in contemplation, it must
be clearly comprehended how much depends on the conduct of
the will. For although the mind is the medium, and as it were
the mirror in which we see, it is the will, as St. Thomas remarks,
that moves and elevates the mind, and holds it firm and steadfast
to the object of contemplation. Hence the great authorities on
this kind of prayer insist that the fortitude of the will is the moral
foundation of contemplation. The spiritual appetite is the spring
that moves the desire of contemplating the divine beauty of truth ;
but what awakens the appetite is the love and desire of beholding
and feeling the beautiful things of God. As our Divine Lord
teaches us: "Where thy treasure is, there is thy heart also*'.t
Hence contemplation begins with love and ends in greater lovcj

All pious souls are not called to contemplation, but it is open
nevertheless to every state of life, to the poor as much as to the
well provided, to the simple as well as to the learned. Nay, the
simple are often better disposed for this holy exercise than the
learned, because of their singleness of mind and simplicity of
heart. Most of the great writers on the subject have observed
that the lovers of learning are often too curious, too much devoted
to reasoning, and too fond of wandering through the regions of
human knowledge, to be well disposed for interior recollection,
and for the simple, childlike contemplation of Eternal Truth, how-
ever profoundly it would enlighten them. Yet not only among
the servants of the altar, and among those devoted to religion,
observes St. Gregory, but even in the married life some are found
who receive this precious gift. But those who are by nature

* S. Greg. Mag. Horn. 14 in Ezechid. + S. Matthew vi. 21.

X S. Thomas, Sum, 2. 2. q. 108. a. 5.

Digitized by

ON PRAYER.

205

restless and unquiet, or who have not subdued their spirit by
interior mortification, or who have not brought themselves into
habits of recollection, are unfit for this kind of prayer. Again, as
holy Job tells us, wisdom is not to be found by him who "knoweth
not the price thereof, neither is it to be found in the land of them
who live in delights".*

The man who receives the light of contemplation has his heart
within him. He is not immoderately taken up with external things.
That light cannot be infused into the things of the senses, nor can
it enter into those corporal images that fill the imagination ; it is
the spiritual light of spiritual things known only to spirits. Who-
ever desires this light should have great care to keep the soul in a
state of humility, and should never suffer the soul to be elated
over the grace received. That light enters obliquely as it were
through the window of the mind, but the thief should not be
allowed to enter after it. For true contemplation keeps down the
sense of self and the spirit of selfishness as well. The divine truth
enters through the window of the mind, but the boastings of elation
should be kept out. The window of contemplation admits light,
but excludes the storm ; it opens to the entrance of grace, but is
closed against the admission of pride.t

We say nothing here respecting those rare and extraordinary
gifts of contemplation to which no one should have the presumption
to aspire ; they come of some wonderful and unexpected visit of
God, and can never be obtained by human industry. But the
effects that follow the ordinary exercise of contemplation are these
three. The first is wonder, admiration, and awe at beholding
some manifestation, however remote, of the beauty, power, and
sublimity of God in His Divine Attributes, or in His divine good-
ness to His creatures; in the presence of which the soul is
humbled down in veneration and adoration. The second effect is
the infusion of heavenly sweetness, that fills the soul with love and
gratitude. For the soul converses with that Eternal Wisdom of
whom the Scripture says : " Her conversation hath no bitterness,
nor her company any tediousness, but gladness and joy % The
third effect is the revelation to the creature of her littleness and
nothingness apart from God. Searched as with lamps, the

* Job xxviii. 12-13. +8. Greg. Mag. Horn, 17 in Ezechiel,

t Wisdom viii. 16.

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ON PRAYER,

soul sees her defects and failings laid open to her eyes. The
light of the Sun of Justice penetrates the soul, and the beauty of
goodness enters the heart, withering up the desires of earthly and
carnal things, and drawing those desires into aspirations towards
the God of all beauty and goodness.

The soul that has been once illuminated with the light of con-
templation, though but for a short time, can never forget it, nor
can ever be the same as before. A higher and purer standard of
good is implanted in the mind and in the conscience. To turn to
evil would be much more fearful and loathsome than before ; the
rending of the conscience would be more terrible. To abandon
God after the light of His countenance had shone with sweetness
and power on the soul, would be a spiritual apostasy to which the
words of St. Paul are but too applicable. "It is impossible
(that is to say, very difficult] for those who were once illuminated,
have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the
Holy Ghost, have moreover tasted the good word of God, and
the powers of the world to come, and are fallen away, to be
renewed again to penance." *

Such falls after true contemplation must be rare indeed. The
causes are more numerous where a pretension to the gift is false,
a mere delusion of the imagination rather than a union of mind
and heart with the divine light, generating conceit in place of
humility. But true contemplation brings with it such a knowledge
of God and of self, generates so much charity and humility, and
inspires such a horror of sin, that the soul is drawn ever closer to
God and further from selfishness.

From this e^osition of the several kinds of prayer three para-
mount instructions may be gathered. First, in every kind o
prayer, whether vocal, meditative, aspiratory, or contemplative,
whilst the manner is different the spirit is the same. All prayer
has one final end, that of our beatitude in God ; and all should
be exercised in spirit and in truth. Secondly, every kind of prayer
leads to interior recollection according to each one's gift and dis-
position ; and when this recollection ascends to contemplation the
summit of prayer is reached ; there is nothing between the soul
and God but His own gifts ; it is a certain foreshadowing within
the brevity of time of the eternal contemplation of God. Thirdly,

♦ Hebrews vi. 4-6.

ONPRAYER.

207

the greatest fruits of prayer are not visible in the time of prayer;
but only a certain light, refreshment, and consolation. Even this
is often withheld for the correction, or the probation, or the dis-
cipline of the soul ; but the memory of that refreshment is a great
encouragement in the time of trial The great reward of prayer is
reserved for eternity; and the generous soul will say: Give me
now the thorns, and keep the crown for eternity.

LECTURE XI.

ON PATIENCE IN PRAYER.

" Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will keep thee from the
hour of temptation." — Apocalypse iii. lo.

HEN we reflect on the inconstancy of the mind and the

V V instability of the will, we have most painful proofs of the
weakness of human nature. Restless as the weathercock on the
steeple, the mind shifts from point to point, incapable when left
to its own nature of dwelling long on any subject without many
deviations and distractions. The cause of this infirmity is not so
much the mind itself as the restlessness of the senses, the petu-
lance of the imagination, the waywardness of curiosity, and im-
patience of the conditions of each present moment. The will is
shaken from its constancy and stability by the same causes, and by
the continual changes which our feelings undergo. Every move-
ment around us, every voice that speaks to us, produces some
change in us. The eye of the soul is now here, now there ; her
affections are now up, now down ; she is too weak to hold on her
course without being in a greater or less degree affected and turned
about by every varying attraction that brings its influence to bear
upon her tremulous mobility.

Such is human nature left to its native infirmity, and without
the discipline of the virtues. This restless inconstancy gives
melancholy evidence that we are not firmly united with the object
for which we were created. For whatever has obtained its end is
at peace through being united with that end, and is at rest from
perturbations, and from wanderings without reasonable purpose.
It is clear that what the soul most needs is some steadying power
that will not only give stability to the mind and will, but a pre-
servation of the balance of stability by resistance to whatever

ON PA TIENCE IN PR A YEP,

209

would disturb it. But as the object of such a power is to heal
the weakness which causes this instability, it is evident that it
cannot be looked for within our nature, but must come from One
who is by nature strong, constant, and unchangeable. This power
is the grace and virtue of Christian patience, which strengthens
and steadies the will, and through the will the mind and all the
powers. Hence all things weak within us look to patience for
their remedy. This virtuous power strengthens and unites in us
what weakness disunites and dissipates.

But as that which is weak is strengthened by resting on what
is strong, the soul is made strong by resting with her interior
centre upon the strengthening power of God. "Be thou, O
my soul, subject to God ; for from Him is my patience." *
As God is above us, and we beneath, to be subject to God is to
rest on Him, that is to be united with Him. What is restless by
nature can only be made calm and peaceful by union with what is
calm and peaceful. We obtain peace from our troubles by union
with the God of peace. " It is good for me to adhere to God, to
set my hope on the Lord God." t As we can only obtain stability
of mind and heart by union with what is unchangeable, our soul
obtains stability by union with the unchangeable God. The
principle of that union is charity, and God has placed the power
of patience in the gift of charity, that we may be able to adhere
with our spirit to Him in a firm, stable, and patient love. " Charity
is patient."

Whatever is created is made for an object and an end which is
different from itself, from which it receives its fulness, peace, and
perfection. God has created us for Himself, and only by union
with God can we receive our fulness, peace, and perfection. This
union we seek in prayer, and obtain through prayer, and by prayer
we prepare ourselves for our eternal union with God. For the
final end of prayer, as of all good works, is our eternal union with
God in His beatifying vision.

It is therefore of great importance to understand what we ought
to put into our prayer ; for the value and merit of our good works
depend less on their show than on the spirit and virtue put into
them. It has been acutely observed in human actions, that God
looks less to the verbs than to the adverbs, that is, to the spirit

* Psalm Ixi. 6.

t Psalm Ixxii. 28.

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ON PA TIENCE IN PR A YEP,

and manner in which we do our actions, to the virtues we put into
them. And Cassian says with great truth, that " we come to the
perfection of prayer with the construction of all the virtues ; for
unless they are collected and compacted in the elevation of prayer,
they can in nowise be firm or enduring in their stability *
This is a great light. It shows that not only must the virtues
enter into prayer, be united in prayer, and blended together in
prayer ; but that it is in prayer they receive their stability for the
performance of other good works.

The first condition of prayer is attention. The second is
humility, whereby the soul is opened and made subject to God.
The third is faith in God, and trust that He will hear our prayer,
and grant us according to His promises. The fourth is the love of
God, which makes our prayer generous and acceptable. The
fifth is obedience to the interior movements of the Holy Spirit.
The sixth is patience. And as attention wholly depends on
patience, this virtue should be present throughout every good
prayer, not only to keep our mind firm and steady to the presence
of God, but also that the soul may adhere to Him in faith, hope,
and love. Hence that most enlightened and experienced guide of
souls, Father Louis of Granada, tells us that "patience is not
only necessary, but is marvellously necessary for obtaining and
preserving the fruits of prayer t

Let us consider what attention is, and what it is in prayer.
Taken literally, the word attention signifies a stretching foith. We
stretch forth the ear to listen, the eye to see, and the mind to
understand. As an interior act attention is the act of directing
and applying the mind to some special object presented to our
thoughts. Attention in prayer is the stretching forth and applying
the mind to God and to divine things. It is evident that this
action of the mind depends upon the energy of the will, which
both directs and applies the mind to its object. It is equally
obvious that our attention will be generous in proportion to our
detachment from sensual self-love. The mind tends to God by
command of the will, and takes heed of what we see, think, feel,
and say to Him. Perfect attention in prayer excludes attention
to whatever belongs not to that duty. This attention ought to be

* Cassian, Collat, 9, c. 2.
t Granada, Memoriale vita Christiana^ Tract. 5, c. 2.

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211

humble, loving, trusting, free, peaceful, patient, and persever-
ing.

The hindrances to fixed, steadfast, and patient attention are well
known to be numerous. But they are by no means the same to
all persons; for the power of attention is gained as the fruit of
habitual recollection. Those souls that have disciplined them-
selves into habits of recollection obtain the patient possession of
themselves, and the custody of their mind and heart frees their
attention from many impediments. Some, again, are by nature of
a firmer and less irritable texture than others, and respond more
readily to that grace of patience which sustains and protects
attention. Let us enumerate the chief hindrances that interfere
with recollection and attention in prayer, not in detail — that would
be impracticable — but in their kinds, and we shall find that they
are all conquered by patience.

The first hindrance to attention is the restlessness of the body,
with its nerves in constant play and its senses in unpeaceful
movement. Unless the will has obtained patience to disregard
the restless emotions of the body, and to keep the attention
abstracted from them, they will make the mind restless and the
attention unsteady. The patient mind attends to God and to her
prayer, and refuses to be disturbed by the animal feehngs, which
cease to trouble when the soul is not with them. Restlessness of
body arises from various causes ; one of which is the very quietude
of posture in prayer, and the greater consciousness of any move-
ment in that quietude. Another is due to the habit of giving
too much attention of mind to the sensual feelings .at all times,
which greatly fosters their power over the mind. Another
may arise from intemperance of diet, which is apt to cause
local irritability as well as weakness in the mental powers.
Another cause is want of habitual control of temper, which
disposes the soul to fret at small things, and disturbs the
tranquiUity of the senses.

Sometimes when the body is in a state of restlessness, a change
of position will give considerable relief. Some, who are by nature
restless, are best able to think and reflect when in motion. But
holy souls who are truly patient will not even allow great sufferings
of body to interfere with their recollection, except to bring them
closer to God. But if the soul is distracted from attention by only
moderate irritation in the earthly frame, there can be no true

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ON PA TIENCE IN PR A YEP.

patience in the will For true patience adheres to the object of
prayer regardless for the time of all inferior things.

The second hindrance to attention is from the imagination.
This volatile and many coloured intruder is excellent in its place
as the servant of truth, and is the first help to meditation, and
when rightly used gives much instruction and delight But it is
also the chief cause of our distractions, wanderings from attention,
and delusions. There is nothing that the uncontrolled imagination
will not at times protrude upon the recollection of devout attention,
from mere flitting distractions to gross images of vice. As the
imagination is closely connected with the senses, from which its
action originates, it is apt to cause disturbance in the senses as
well as the mind, and even to awaken passions, such as resentment
or sadness. When, again, the subtle movements of self-love gain
entrance into the imagination, not only is the attention diverted
from God to self, but the imagination becomes imbued with the
vanities of self-love, and will bring that self with its petty interests
before the mind in a way to eclipse the light of prayer. But when
these disturbing shadows are first perceived, it is the duty of
patience to increase the energy of attention, and to adhere with
greater application to the object of prayer, leaving these distractions
to fall away for want of notice.

The third hindrance to attention is the intrusion of things from
the memory that have no proper connection with prayer. These
ordinarily come, though not always, through the medium of the
imagination. They are caused by association of ideas, and
frequently by association of contraries, which are sometimes
painful as well as troublesome. When these memories are con-
nected with ourselves, or with our external pursuits, or with any
one towards whom we have strong feelings of any kind, unless the
mind holds on with patience, they have much power to distract
attention. Distractions from the memory or the • imagination
become very troublesome if the least importance is attached to
them, if the soul yields to any anxiety about them. They may at
times take shadowy forms that seem to touch faith, or to sound
like blasphemy, or even touch on purity. Yet this in pious souls
will be nothing perhaps but the mechanical association of what is
directly contrary to the desires of the soul. To attend to such
suggestions, to be anxious about them, to attach any importance
to them, is to give them a power of troubling and tormenting

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213

which they have not in themselves. The effective way of treating
such intrusions on attention is to adhere with patience to God, to
help that adhesion with active aspirations, and utterly to disregard
them. When the mind perseveres in attention to the Divine Object
of prayer, despite of accidental perturbations, the soul cannot
become engaged with herself, and those intrusive images dissolve
and vanish for want of attention to nourish them. To be anxious
about them is to give them entertainment ; this enables them to
trouble both recollection and peace, and so the end of the tempter
is gained.

It is of great importance to understand that where evil spirits
tempt us, they have no power allowed them except on the corporal
senses and the imagination. They cannot act in the substance of
the soul without the souFs consent. It is equally important to
understand that, though the imagination acts on the mind, it has
its origin from the corporal senses. When this was explained to
Saint Teresa it became an epoch of light in her spiritual life. She
then understood how to manage her imagination, and what degree
of importance was to be attached to that which St. Paul calls ** the
spirit of the flesh

There are celebrated pictures by great artists which profess to
represent the temptations of St. Antony the Hermit whilst in
prayer, and some of them are widely known by engravings.
Properly understood, these pictures give a valuable instruction.
They represent in visible shapes the solicitations and temptations
with which the imagination besets the mind in prayer. Some of
these figures are grave, others refined and seductive, others
grotesque and ridiculous. But whilst these creatures of the
imagination seek to attract the attention of the Saint, to allure him
from recollection, or to dissipate his prayer by their charms,
illusions, antics, or seductions, the Saint himself kneels with his
whole soul concentrated on God ; his features exhibit the strain
upon his fortitude, and there is a consciousness of the siege with
which his soul is beset \ but his patience does not waver, his will
holds his attention with steadfastness towards God, and refuses to
be diverted even for an instant from the object of his prayer. He
has mastered these solicitations, he has mastered the ridiculous,
he has mastered the anxieties of temptation and distraction, and
that simply and solely by adhering to God with patience.

The fourth hindrance to attention is a very subtle one, and the

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ON PATIENCE IN PRA YEE.

more mischievous because it springs directly from self-love. So
long as the soul abides in the humble sense of her nothingness
before God, and looks to Him with patient confidence as the giver
of all she stands in need of, temptation will slide off and leave her
prayer uninjured. But if the soul begins to lose sight of what she
is before God, and departing from her humility takes delight in
what she fancies the success of her prayer, her attention will
secretly glide off from God to herself, a shadow of that imaginary
self will come between her real self and God, and though it may
not efface the divine presence from her mind, it will nevertheless
obscure that holy presence, whilst it will raise the spirit of self-
conceit. Self-love and vanity will come into action, and show
themselves in petty fancies and weak sentimentalities ; there may
be industrious compositions of sentences, and other dressings of
vanity, making a silly display before God for one's own entertain-
ment; just as vain people do in their conversation with their
neighbours.

This loquacious prayer of self-love is very offensive; it is an
example of that much speaking which our Lord rebuked in the
prayer of the heathens, who thought much of themselves and little
of God. The prayer in spirit and in truth moves not from self-
love, but from the grace of the Holy Spirit, and moves towards
God with love and veneration. It consists not in fine words or
pleasant poetry, but is penetrated with the power and goodness of
God, and with the sense of our own lowhness, poverty, and want.
When the heart is truly touched with light and grace, and sub-
dued into earnest desire, the soul will express herself in the
simplest words, springing without art or . effort from the spirit that
moves within. This is the prayer of humble fervour, which is not
easily distracted because of its patience and simplicity; but the
prayer which is corrupted by the vanity of self-love invites dis-
traction. Can such a prayer be pleasing to God ? Not when we
are in labour with our vanity. He hath said : " To whom shall I
have respect, but to him that is poor and little, and of a contrite
spirit, and that trembleth at my words ? " * And the Proverb says :
" His will is in them that walk in simplicity ".t

The moment this vain spirit is detected, everything should give

♦ Isaias Ixvi. 2. f Proverbs xi. 20

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2IS

way to profound humiliation before God, and to a deep sense of
shame at having thus behaved in the divine presence. Whoever
is subject to this infirmity will find in it the proof of an un-
raortified will, and such a one should not only begin prayer with
an act of profound humility and subjection to God, but should
repeat that act from time to time in the course of prayer. This
should be accompanied with the consideration of one's nothing-
ness before God, who sees through all our weaknesses, and who
demands of the fallen creature humiUty before all things, and the
simplicity of a helpless child in the presence of his Creator. At
the end of prayer he should consider how he has yielded to pre-
sumption, or has borne himself with single-hearted simplicity, that
he may ask pardon where he has erred from vanity or conceit.

The fifth hindrance to attention arises from confusion of mind.
There are some persons who at certain times know not where to
begin or how to pursue their prayer. They flounder in confusion
of mind from beginning to end. In such cases recourse should be
had to a book, and that book should be used freely, not only as a
guide but as a support to reflection. There are few persons who
cannot meditate on the Passion of Christ, and they can have
nothing better. This state of mind requires a great deal of
patience. When the mind can do nothing else, the will can always
wait on God, which with patience is an excellent prayer. But
when the mind cannot meditate the heart can always use simple
aspirations, which are the very essence of prayer.

But the greatest cause of mental confusion is scrupulosity, which
greatly impedes the freedom of the mind. Scrupulosity is a real
malady. It has its seat in the imagination, and it gravely affects
the action of the will as well as of the judgment. It is a kind of
mania, ruled by the fixed image of sin, which oversways the
balance of the judgment, so that the just distinction between right
and wrong is no longer discerned in our acts or thoughts. As a
person suffering from jaundice has his eyes so filled with yellow
bile that everything he looks upon seems tinted with that colour ;
so the scrupulous person has his mental sight so filled with the
image and fear of sin, that it hangs like a phantom before his eyes,
and seems to give its colour to all his acts. Hence he attaches
the notion of sin to his most innocent thoughts and actions, and
lives in constant dread that what he does is sinful, and this more
especially in his acts of piety. In some persons this malady is

2i6 ' ON PATIENCE IN PRA YEP.

constitutional, and may be detected by a person of spiritual discern-
ment by external signs. In others the trial is only temporary.

It is obvious from the nature of this malady that those who
suffer from it cannot be judges in their own cause. For the
disease affects the judgment itself, which is unable to decide f
except on the judgment of another. Where there is pride, and
that is seldom absent, there is great obstinacy of will, and this
makes the malady much more difficult to cure. There is but one
remedy for this suffering state of soul, and that is absolute and
implicit obedience to the Spiritual Physician. When the physician
pronounces that the patient is suffering from scrupulosity, the first
and indispensable duty of the sufferer is to believe that such is the
case, although the scrupulous person may neither see nor under-
stand how that can be. For unless the patient trusts the physician
the cure cannot be effected. The second duty of the scrupulous
is to faithfully follow the few and simple rules given by the director
for its cure, however unreasonable they may appear to the dis-
ordered judgment of the sufferer. That judgment may be per-
fectly sound in every other respect, excepting where there is
question of sin, or of the imagination and dread of sin. When
this malady gives rise to disquiet and anxiety disturbing to the
peace of prayer, the sufferer should seek special direction as to
the kind of prayer most suited to the case, and as to the conduct
to be pursued in prayer. It will greatly encourage the obedience
of the scrupulous if they will only assure themselves that they are
only responsible to God for their obedience, and that the director
is responsible for all that is enjoined them.

The sixth hindrance to attention in souls not already purified
by trials is dryness of heart. When the affections lose their
pleasant sensibilities and find that their enjoyment is gone, the
soul is liable to become anxious and uneasy, and to imagine that
something serious, she knows not what, is wrong within her, and
that God is not with her. This anxiety is much increased if there
be obscurity or darkness in the mind as well as dryness in the heart.
Accustomed to the light, refreshment, and consolation of prayer,
when deprived of them, the soul is inclined to lose courage, to
become occupied with herself and with her changed feelings, and
not unfrequently yields herself to sadness, which greatly relaxes
attention to God, and brings an uneasy apprehension about her
state. She has yet to learn the stronger and less selfish virtues of

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217

prayer, and, however well instructed in theory, to discover in
practice that there are far greater rewards of prayer than its actual
and present enjoyment.

What is the faith that swims in light compared with that strong
and energetic faith which adheres to God and His truth when the
soul is surrounded with dark clouds and obscurations ? It is a
noble courage to believe that God is still present, hearing our
prayers and providing their reward, notwithstanding the darkness
that hides His presence from us, Blessed are they who have
not seen, and have believed." * What is the hope that enjoys
the foretaste of the promises, compared with that unbounded con-
fidence that cleaves to God with undiminished trust when every-
thing wears the appearance of discouragement? This was the
patient trust of holy Job. Tortured in body, overwhelmed with
darkness and dryness of spirit, assaulted with fears and perplexities,
he exclaimed amidst his sorrows and privations : " Even though
He should kill me, I will trust in Him : but yet I will reprove my
ways in His sight t The Psalms of David are the voice of a
soul that frequently alternates between light and obscuration,
between consolation and desolation, between delight in God and
fear of self; and they are written for our instruction. When trial
comes, what is the conduct of the Prophet of souls ? He adheres
to God with hope ; he abides with him in patience. He is subject
to God and prays to Him ; he awaits with fortitude the coming
of God.

St. Paul knew how to abound and how to suffer loss. He has
humbly recorded the alternations of his soul, even to the humilia-
tion that he suffered, lest he should be lifted up with the greatness
of his revelations. " For which thing," he says, " thrice I besought
the Lord, that it might depart from me ; and He said to me: My
grace is sufficient for thee : for power is perfected in infirmity."
What then did the Apostle? Knowing the will of God, he
troubled himself no more, but patiently bore the trial. " Gladly
therefore will I glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ
may dwell in me. For which cause I please myself in my
infirmities." % We read the lives of the Saints of all ages, and
find that they had their times of refreshment and their times of
interior trial and desolation, and were deeply conscious of their

* S. John XX. 29. t Job xiii. 15, Corinthians xii. 8-10.

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ON PATIENCE IN PRA YEE.

infirmities. But what truly distinguished them was the simple
faith, the confident trust, and the untiring patience with which
they adhered to God in every trial and every state of feeling,
indifferent to all but the will of God and His sanctifying
influences.

What is the charity that loves God with the sweet sense of love
compared with that greater charity in which, though without the
sense of enjoyment, our desires of God are sent forth to Him with
greater earnestness ? God measures our love by our desires, and
not by the refreshment with which He sometimes rewards them.
Consolation is not prayer, but an encouragement given to the
weakness of souls. Prayer is the strongest, fullest of virtue, and
obtains the greatest reward in eternity, when our desires ascend to
God, and our adoration is given to Him without regard to greater
consolation than it pleases God to give us. What is the patience
of a soul in which all goes pleasantly on the path of prayer, and
when she has only to exclude what interferes with recollection,
compared with that firm and constant patience that adheres to
.God amidst obscurity and desolation ?

This strong meat is not given to the babes of spiritual life, but
to those who are chosen for great rewards in eternity. This severe
diet purifies the affections from what is sensual, feeble, irritable, or
selfish in them, and strengthens the virtues with a view to their
perfection. The rewards of prayer are given to its humility, its
patience, its charity and purity. Let no one mistake present con-
solation for the great reward. The first is a grace given to the
soul to encourage her to labour for the eternal reward. When
prayer is pure it looks more to God and less to present enjoyment.
When prayer is patient it abides more steadfastly with God, waits
upon His will, and is less attentive to one's inward perturbations.
This dry prayer is generous, and most peaceful when most
patient The great final reward, to which all prayer should be
directed, is God Himself.

If it please God that the soul should have her winter as well as
her summer season, this is a divine policy and a spiritual provi-
dence. For just as the providence of God sends the bracing cold,
the rainy clouds, and cleansing winds to prepare the earth, that its
fruits may gush forth in the summer ; so are these trials ordained
to brace the soul, to purify the heart, and eradicate the weeds of
self-love ; to make the spirit strong in fortitude and patience, and

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219

to change our soft habits into a more vigotous constitution of life.
Hence in the language of theology these trials are called purgations;
either purgations of sense, or purgations of the intellect, or purga-
tions of the will.

Purgation of the sense is effected by that drying-up of the
affections, by which we learn that spiritual consolation comes not
from one's self, but is the gift and encouragement of the Holy
Spirit, who both gives and takes it away. This trial also purifies
the spiritual affections from whatever is sensual or savouring of
self-love that has got mixed with them. They thus become more
purely spiritual, and when consolation returns it is felt more in
God and less in one's self. The purgation of the intellect is
effected by that withdrawing of divine light which leaves the soul
in obscurity, except in what regards the light of conscience, and
the soul more clearly sees that this light is in the hand of God to
give or take away. We put many images of vanity into that light,
and many reflections of self-love, and make the holy light a mirror
in which to admire our own mental efforts, forgetful that it is by
God's gift of light that we believe, and think, and obtain know-
ledge and understanding. But when darkness comes upon the
mind, we find ourselves out ; we see that our light comes from
God, and that by no labour of our own can we produce a single
ray of its illumination. We are left to faith, and to the light of
justice, needful to guide us on our way ; and we learn how insig-
nificant our mental efforts are without the light of God. The pride
of intellect is mortified and humbled, the intellect itself is purified
of its vanities and conceits, and from the reflected images of self-
love ; and when the cheering light returns, it comes more serene
into a purer mind, so that we make our prayer and conduct our
mental operations with truer dependence on the divine illumination.
Thus the intellect is purged from pride and vanity that we may.
see the truths of God and the laws of wisdom with purer eyes, and
respond to them with greater fidelity.

The purgation of the will is effected by the crucifixion of our
inordinate loves and desires. This is accomplished by the
sufferings, privations, and disappointments which the will has to
endure in things that tend to God. When the dispositions of the
will have been thus purified from seeking their own way in the
things of God, and when the desires of nature have been cleansed
away from impeding the will of God in that soul, the soul accepts

220

ON PATIENCE IN PR A YER,

all privations and sufferings here below with indifference. The
gift of charity is purified from the interests of nature and self-
seeking, and, divested of its accidental encumbrances, the flame
of divine love obtains an increase of purity and force, of fortitude
and patience, that gives it wonderful capacity both for unity with
God and for every good work.

It will become evident from these explanations that the chief
virtues to be exercised in times of dryness, darkness, and interior
suffering are patient faith, patient hope, and patient charity, raised
to the degree of fortitude. We must endure for the love of God,
believe in His loving care of us, wait in patience for the light of
His countenance, and persevere in our prayer. But remember
that it is with ourselves that we have to be patient. The Italians
have a proverb, that time and patience change the mulberry leaf
into fine satin. It is wonderful what time does for a soul when
helped by patience. Patience with time matures everything.
God is the governor of your soul: have patience with His mysterious
ways, and let Him govern you. A hundred have perseverance for
one who has patience ; but without patience that perseverance is
of a restless, broken, and unpeaceful kind. Devout surrender to
the ways of God is the summit of patience.

The seventh hindrance to steadfast attention and recollection
arises from the timidities, fears, and discouragements to which the
soul gives way amidst the trials and desolations of prayer. This
repining fear is very different from the filial fear of God ; it is a
sinking of hope and courage, and a failure of the confidence that
God is present and hears the desires of our heart. These timid
misgivings do not proceed from grace but from the weakness of
nature deprived of consolation. People who will go through a
great deal of patient labour, and will endure privations with cheer-
fulness to obtain success in other things, will often shrink from
labour and endurance, and lose their patience, when what they ask
of God is deferred ; they lose both heart and much of what they
have already gained. They will not reflect that God delays His
graces to try their faith in Him, and their patience, or for other
beneficial reasons that He alone knows. Hence their attention is
disturbed, becomes divided between God and their own dis-
comforts, and is sometimes overwhelmed with the gloom and sad-
ness of their discontented nature. Sometimes this goes further
they imagme their own displeasure to be God's displeasure with

ON PATIENCE IN PR A YER.

221

them, that He has abandoned them, and that their prayer is
displeasing to God, and useless. Thus patience breaks down
into melancholy, and the soul becomes wholly occupied with

Yet all this is but a mischievous delusion, of which presumption
is the origin and self-love the feeder. This will show itself in
various ways. The imagination will wander away to other scenes
in search of relief. The soul will fancy that she could do better
in some other place and under other conditions. For one of the
effects of this kind of discontent is to imagine that one is not in one's
right vocation, and might do better in some other; forgetting that
we carry ourselves with us wherever we go. Tet all this weakness
comes from want of patience with ourselves. But the question
arises : Are we to do God's will or our own ? What will our own
will profit us ? We are abundantly taught by Holy Scripture and
the Saints, that the trials which God sends us are among His
greatest benefits, and we are quite ready to teach this truth to
others under their trials. But when it comes to our own case, our
self-love will not let us understand. Yet to remove self-love is
that trial given us. If we practically knew God's ways in the soul,
we should believe in them, trust in them, love them, and patiently
wait through the winter of trial for the returning spring. But
self-love is blind, voracious for present enjoyment, and sad and
sorrowful when it is not granted. The true question for the soul is
this : Do we deserve it ? Is it good for us ? And the answer is :
God knows.

In the 87th Psalm King David puts before us the fear, anxiety,
and desolation with which his soul is beset in his prayer. He
begins his prayer with earnest supplication : " O Lord, the God of
my salvation : I have cried in the day, and in the night before
Thee He then compares his interior privations to those of a
man who is buried in a sepulchre : " in the dark places, and in
the shadow of death Yet with patient fortitude he perseveres in
his prayer : " My eyes languished through poverty, all the day I
cried to Thee, O Lord ; I stretched out my hands to Thee
And again he continues his prayer; "Shall any one in the
sepulchre declare Thy mercy; and Thy truth in destruction?
Shall Thy wonders be known in the dark ; and Thy justice in the
land of forgetfulness ? But I, O Lord, have cried to Thee : and
in the morning my prayers shall prevent Thee." This is the

self.

222

ON PATIENCE IN PR A YEP.

inspired prayer of one whose attention to God is not destroyed by
his fears and discouragements.

The Prophet Habacuc begins his prophesying with a prayer of
great desolation : " How long, O Lord, shall I cry ; and Thou
wilt not hear ? Shall I cry out to Thee suffering violence, and
Thou wilt not save ? " * But at the end of his dolorous prophecies
his patient grief is rewarded, and his words are joyful : " But I
will rejoice in the Lord: and will joy in God my Jesus. The
Lord God is my strength : and He will make my feet like the feet
of harts ; and He the conqueror will lead me on my high places
singing psalms." t

The true remedy for all these fears and discouragements is to
adhere to God in the darkness, and wait with patience the hour of
deliverance. Then will God infuse a secret strength into the soul
that will carry her through her trial. ^' Wait on God with patience ;
join thyself to God, and endure, that thy life may be increased in
the latter end. Take all that shall be brought upon thee ; and in
thy sorrow endure, and in thy humiliation keep patience : for gold
is tried in the fire, but acceptable man in the furnace of humilia-
tion. Believe in God, and He will recover thee ; and direct thy
way, and trust in Him." % You will also find out the truth of the
words of Solomon : " Better is the end of prayer than the beginning.
Better is the patient man than the presumptuous one." §

We must not forget that the will as well as the mind is liable to
become fatigued, not as they are spiritual powers, but in the
corporal organs which they use. Hence in this our mortal state
attention cannot be very long sustained on one subject without
varying the method of attention. The power of attention is very
different in different persons, and that for various reasons : the
difference of natural constitution, the difference of the habits in
which the soul has been trained, and the greater or less degree in
which the soul has been disciplined to patience. The mind and
its faculties should not be strained, or weariness and dulness will
be the consequence. Meditation, which the Fathers call investiga-
tion, is more fatiguing than the aspirative prayer of the affections.
Contemplation is less laborious because the movements of the
mind are more simple. But what really fatigues the mind is not
tranquil prayer, but any anxiety or sadness mixed with it. When

• Habacuc i. 2. f Id. iii. 18-19. t Ecclus. ii. 3-6. § Eccl. vii. 9.

ON PATIENCE IN PR A YER,

223

aspirative and affective prayer is mixed with meditation it is not
only less fatiguing but more fruitful. This will be particularly
found in long retreats.

Let any one who would feel the value of patient prayer take the
Our Father, or the Creed, or a Hymn of the Holy Ghost, and
repeat it slowly and attentively, with the heart on God and the
mind on the sense of the prayer, and he will find, perhaps with
some surprise, how much more light will come to his mind, how
much more sweetness to his heart, how much nearer he will feel
himself to God, than when these customary prayers are little better
than gabbled without their full and solemn sense. One Our
Father thus meditatively recited w^ith mind, heart, and patient
attention, will do more for the soul than several repetitions that
are little better than verbal. Sometimes the mind will enter with
affection into the sublime truths expressed ; sometimes the heart
will use them as pious aspirations ; sometimes the soul will repose
more fully on the divine presence; sometimes she will examine
herself by their light ; sometimes she will more definitely receive
their influence in determining her conduct. These solemn peti-
tions will constantly bring new lights and new refreshments ; the
spirit of God is in them, and " where is the spirit of the Lord
there is liberty

In his Moral Exposition of the Book of Job, St. Gregory the
Great has given us such a solid explanation of the value of interior
trials, that we gladly give his reflections at length. The text on
which the great Pontiff builds his comment is the words of the
messenger to Job. " While thy sons and daughters were eating
and drinking wine in the house of their elder brother, a violent
wind came on a sudden from the side of the desert, and shook
the four corners of the house, and it fell upon thy children, and
they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell thee." * Upon this
St. Gregory observes that the interior house of the soul is built up
in the four cardinal virtues, and within are the other virtues,
children of the heart, that mutually feed each other. Justice,
fortitude, prudence, and temperance frame a house for the Spirit of
God. Then the Spirit of God prepares the house of the soul
against her several trials by tempering her with seven virtues;
with wisdom against folly, with understanding against stupidity,

• Job i. 18-19.

224

ON PATIENCE IN PRA YER.

with counsel against predpitation, with fortitude against fear, with
knowledge against ignorance, with piety against hard-heartedness,
and with the fear of the Lord against pride.

Yet sometimes whilst the soul is upheld in the plenteous abun-
dance of the divine gift, were that gift left constantly with us,
giving us always sweet enjo)rment, we should forget from whom
the gift comes, and think it our own. It is therefore useful that
sometimes this grace should be withdrawn to check our presump-
tion, and to show us how weak we are. When we lose it for a time
we learn to know whence our good comes ; and that we have not
the power to keep it. Sometimes, to teach us humility, temptation
rushes upon us, and that with a violence that strikes our wisdom
into folly. Not knowing how to deal with the temptation, we
become troubled as to how we can meet the pressure of evil. But
by this very folly the heart is taught prudence ; our momentary
folly makes us more humble, and therefore more truly wise ; and
the wisdom lost in a manner for the time is henceforth held in
greater security.

Sometimes, after the understanding has ascended to sublime
things, there comes a dull obtuseness that sinks the mind down to
things low and vile, and even inferior truths leave the mind that
recently soared aloft on rapid wings. Yet this very stupidity, that
comes upon the temporary loss of the mental powers, saves the
understanding ; for the heart is humbled, and is therefore more
justly strengthened to understand what is truly sublime. Some-
times, whilst rejoicing in the steady counsel that rules our actions,
there comes a crisis that hurries us into thoughtless precipitation,
so that whilst we imagined that all was well regulated within us,
our interior becomes devastated with confusion. Yet this very
confusion teaches us to beware of ascribing our counsel to our own
virtue, and after we have returned to the gift of counsel that
seemed lost, we hold to that counsel with greater firmness*

Sometimes, whilst bravely despising adversities, some new trouble
beyond what we looked for comes upon us, and the soul is struck
with unusual fear ; yet after suffering this confusion the soul learns
to whom she should ascribe the strength that sustains her under
tribulations ; and in proportion to the danger she has incurred of
losing her fortitude, she will adhere more firmly to her Divine
Strengthener, Sometimes, whilst rejoicing in the knowledge of
divine things, the mind becomes torpid, and struck as it were with

ON PATIENCE IN PRA YER. 225

blindness ; yet though the eye of the mind is closed in ignorance
for a time, it afterwards opens to true knowledge; for this visitation
of blindness instructs us in the right kind of knowledge, and teaches
us from whom true knowledge comes.

Sometimes, when all things seem to be disposed religiously
within us, and we congratulate ourselves on being filled with pious
feelings, a sudden hardness comes upon us; yet whilst made
sensible of the natural hardness of our heart, we learn from whom
we receive the gift of piety ; and after its partial extinction that
piety returns more perfect, and we love it the more for having lost
it for a time. Sometimes, when the soul is rejoicing in the holy
fear of God, she becomes suddenly stiffened with temptations to
pride ; yet roused by the dread of losing the fear of God, she
bends down anew to humility, and in proportion to her dread of
losing a virtue so momentous, she receives it back with greater
solidity.

When the house of Job was overwhelmed the seven sons died.
When the strong wind of temptation troubles the conscience, for the
gaining of self-knowledge the virtues born of the heart are over-
whelmed. Yet those sons of the heart still live through the spirit
within them, although externally dead to the sensibilities. For
though the hour of trial troubles the virtues in a moment, through
the perseverance of right intention they live secure in the root of
the soul. With the sons of Job their three sisters were overwhelmed.
When heavy trials come it will sometimes befall us that charity is
troubled in the heart, hope is shaken with alarm, and faith is
assaulted with questionings. For at times our love of our Creator
will languish under the thought that we are made to suffer beyond
our strength ; and yielding more to fear than we ought, the confi-
dence of our hope becomes enfeebled. At times also the mind
stretches to immense questions, and faith suffers fatigue as though
it were failing. Yet these daughters of grace are alive, though
they seem overwhelmed ; for when conscience seems to say that
faith, hope, and charity have almost failed, they are kept alive in
the sight of God by the perseverance of right intention.

The servant who brought these tidings to Job alone escaped.
Amidst our greatest trials one thing remains safe and secure, and
that is the light and discretion by which we distinguish what is
just from what is unjust. In the wonderful dispensation under
which we live the soul is stricken at times with the sense of guilti-

226 ON PATIENCE IN PRAYER,

ness. Were a man never to feel his weakness he would imagine
himself the lord of his powers. But when shaken by the inrush
of temptations he becomes fatigued beyond what suffices him, there
is shown him the fortress of humility, where he will find an ample
protection against his enemies ; and from the very fear that his
weakness may bring him to a fall, he receives a strength that
enables him to stand with finnness. He not only learns from his
trials from whom he receives his power, but knows with what
watchfulness that power must be preserved. Often when tempta-
tion might be easily defeated in the combat, the conceit of self-
security brings him to a fall. For when the soul is dissolved in
idleness she becomes an easy prey to the corrupter. But when
the Divine Piety disposes in such a manner that temptation shall
not rush with vehemence upon us, but is only permitted to approach
with moderated steps for our instruction, this is granted that we
may arm ourselves with caution against the coming foe.*

And Job said: "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken
away. Blessed be the name of the Lord." See how the trials of
Job instruct him. In what he has received he confesses the bounty
of God : in what is taken from him, to the perturbation of his
fortitude, he confesses the power of God. Yet fortitude itself is
not taken from him ; it is only fatigued with perturbation. From
moment to moment his soul is shaken with the fear of losing it ;
but growing ever more humble through that fear, his humility
saves him from losing his fortitude.t

No one has treated the subject of patience in prayer, and in the
conduct of life, with greater breadth, clearness, and fulness, than
St. Catherine of Siena ; and it must be remembered that in the
decree of her canonization her doctrine was pronounced to have
been not acquired but infused. With a summary of what this
profoundly enlightened Saint dictated on the subject, we will close
this instruction. She listens to the Eternal Truth, and then speaks
to souls.

In the Old Testament, when sacrifice was offered to God, there
came a fire that drew the victim to Him, and made it acceptable.
So the Sweet Truth sends the fire of the Holy Spirit to draw to
Him the sacrifice of desire whereby the soul makes the oblation

* S. Gregorius Magnus, Moralia in Job, L. ii. c. 49.
t Id. Ibid. c. 54.

ON PATIENCE IN PR A YEP,

227

of herself to God. And He says to the soul : Knowest thou not
that all the pains thou endurest, or canst endure in this life, are
insufficient to punish the least of thy sins ? An offence against
God, the Infinite Good, requires an infinite satisfaction. But all
the pains sent thee in this life are not sent for punishment ;
some are sent for the correction of the offending child. This
however is true, that the soul can satisfy by her desires, when they
are accompanied with true contrition and displeasure of sin. True
contrition satisfies both for sin and punishment, not because of
the limited sufferings endured, but because of the infinite desire
of God which accompanies them. For He who is infinite would
have infinite love and infinite sorrow. He would have infinite
sorrow for the offence of God, and also of our neighbour. But
souls have infinite desires when they are made infinite through
their union with God in love, and in grief, for having offended Him.
Whatever sufferings they endure, whether spiritual or corporal,
receive an infinite merit through being moved by the Holy Spirit
of love, although the acts themselves are limited in time and
intensity. The virtue of endurance prevails because it is accom-
panied by this infinite desire, together with contrition and detestation
of sin. This truth is demonstrated by St. Paul. " If I speak with
the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am
become as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And if I should
have prophecy, and should know all mysteries, and have not
charity, I am nothing. And if I should distribute all my goods to
feed the poor, and if I should deliver my body to be burned, and
have not charity, it profiteth me nothing."* The glorious Apostle
thus demonstrates that no limited acts or sufferings can satisfy
unless seasoned with the unlimited desires of charity.

Every virtue has life and avails through Jesus Christ the Only-
begotten Son of God, Crucified, and avails as far as the soul draws
love from Him with which to follow His steps in the virtues. In
this way they avail, and in no other ; in this way sufferings satisfy
for sin, that is, from the sweet and unitive love obtained from the
sweet knowledge of the Divine Goodness; and through bitter
contrition of heart, derived from the knowledge of thyself and thy
sins. This knowledge produces hatred of self, of sin, and of
sensuality, the effect of which is to account one's self deserving of

* I Cor. xiii. 1-3.

228

ON PATIENCE IN PR A YEP,

suffering, and undeserving of consolation. Thou seest, then, how
by contrition of heart, by love of patience, and by true humility,
thy sufferings should be borne with patience through humility;
whilst thou accountest thyself worthy of suffering, and unworthy
of consolation. Thou wilt then ask to suffer as a satisfaction for
thy offences against thy Creator, and wilt desire to know the
Sovereign Truth, that thou mayest love Him.

But the way to gain perfect knowledge, and to taste the Eternal
Truth is this, that thou never depart from the knowledge of thyself,
but abide in the valley of humility, where thou shalt know God
within thee, and shalt draw from that knowledge what is needful
for thee. No virtue can have life without charity, nor without
humility, which is the nurse of charity. Thou shalt humble thyself
in the knowledge of thyself, and shalt see that thy being is not
from thyself, but from God, who loved thee before thou wast;
and, through unspeakable love, re-created thee in grace; and
washed thee; and re-created thee in the Blood of His Only-begotten
Son, shed with great fire of love. This love makes the Truth
known to every one who but lifts the cloud of self-love from off
him through self-knowledge. Then will the soul ascend to the
knowledge of God with unspeakable love ; yet this love will keep
the soul in continual suffering, because it is a love that sorrows in
the knowledge of the truth, and suffers exceedingly because of
one's sin and ingratitude, and because of the blindness of those
who love not God. Yet this is not an afflicting sorrow, not a
sorrow that withers the soul, but an enriching sorrow. The soul
thus satisfies for her sins, and for the sins of the other servants of
God; and her sufferings may suffice because she receives the
fruits of life through the virtue of charity.*

Patience is the Queen of the soul. She is seated on the rock
of fortitude. She conquers, and is never conquered. This virtue
is the marrow of charity. By its presence we know whether the
garment of charity with which we are clothed is the true nuptial
garment or not. If this garment have rents in it, it is an imperfect
garment, and impatience will escape through the rents. The other
virtues may be for a time concealed, or may seem to be perfect
when in reality they are imperfect. But thou, O Patience, canst
not be hidden ! Let this sweet patience, this marrow of charity

*S. Caterina de Sieiia, Trat. Delia Diviiia Providenza^ c. 3-4.

ON PATIENCE IN PRA YER.

229

be in the soul, and it will demonstrate that all the other virtues
are there, and living in perfection. But if patience be absent,
that absence will show that all the other virtues are imperfect,
and not yet united to the most holy Cross. Patience is
conceived of self-knowledge through the knowledge of God's
infinite goodness, is born of self-hatred, and is anointed with
true humility.

Nothing is refused to the virtue of patience ; neither the honour
of God nor the salvation of souls; it enjoys them continually.
Look at the glorious Martyrs. How many souls were given to
their patience. Death brought them life : they raised the dead :
they drove mortal sin a^way from souls. The world exhibited its
grandeur, the lords of the world put forth their power ; yet they
could not prevail against the Martyrs, so strong were they in the
sweet power of patience. This virtue is a light placed on a candle-
stick It is the glorious fruit of tears united with the love of God
and of our neighbour ; it partakes of the Immaculate Lamb with
anxious and crucified desires. The pain suffered by this virtue is
not afflicting, even though suffered for the offences committed
against our Divine Creator ; because loving patience destroys all
fear and self-love. It is consoling, because founded in charity :
it brings joy, because it is the demonstrative proof that God
dwells by grace in the soul.*

Impatience springs from one of two causes : from spiritual death
when the soul is in mortal sin \ from imperfection of life when the
root of self-love is not mortified. Those imperfect souls live by
grace, but they are tender about themselves, sensitive from
sensuality, and have a soft compassion for their own weakness.
They expect other people to compassionate them, and suffer when
they are not compassionated. This leads them to murmuring, and
to judging the wills of other persons. All this comes from self-
love, and impatience is the proof of it. They love their own way,
and what tongue can tell the troubles of self-will ? In these self-
willed persons the eye of the understanding is obscured; their
faith, the very pupil of the eye, is clouded with self-love, and they
are unfaithful to their light. The impatience that follows makes
them disobedient ; this weakens their judgment ; and this, again,
leads them to murmuring. Although they live in grace their souls

* Eadem, Ddla Oration •, c. 95.

230

ON PATIENCE IN PRA YEP,

are imperfect ; their self-love obscures their sight, and their virtues
are imperfect.

For they accept not the discipline of God with patience, nor even
with becoming reverence, nor with the love which God has given
them. They do not properly understand that what God sends
them, or permits, is for their sanctification, and is consequently to
be accepted with gratitude. But this disobedience to God's will
results from pride, which chooses to serve God in their own way,
and not in His way. For if we believed in very truth that every-
thing except sin proceeds from God, and that He wills nothing
but what is for our good, a truth we taste in the Blood of Christ
crucified ; did we believe this in very truth, and were not warped
from it by this tenderness for ourselves, we should be reverentially
obedient, and accept whatever God sends us, and should judge
that what He sends us is sent in love, and for our good. But
because we are unfaithful to this belief, we suffer pains and troubles,
and become impatient under the pains that we suffer.

Impatience is the habitual outcome of infidelity to what God
ordains for us. We can see this in others, and can be disedified
with it ; such persons can be quite content that superiors should
direct things in their own way as a rule, but they are pained and
troubled if their own private ways are contradicted. Whence
comes all this pain ? If they had no conflict between their nature
and their living grace, they would not suffer. But they are weak,
and their infirmity is owing to their not having patience in their
charity. Instead of humbling themselves beneath the mighty
hand of God, and receiving, as they can do, what comes from
Him, they will have their pains and fatigues at a time, in a place,
and in a way that they choose for themselves. If they cannot
pay their debt of duty like other people, they should at least pay
their debt of patience. God requires nothing of us beyond what
we are able to do, but He always requires charity, and always
requires patience to endure the pains and toils that He sends us. *

O Patience, how delightful thou art to those who have
thee ! What hope thou bringest to those who possess thee !
Thou art the sovereign of the soul. Thou art the corrector of
sensuality. Let but anger or impatience appear, and with the two-
edged sword of hatred and love anger is cut down, pride is severed

♦ Eadem, Lettere 55 Ed. Gigli.

ON PATIENCE IN PRA YER.

231

away by the roots, and impatience is made to vanish. Clothed in
thy garment of self-knowledge as with sunlight, and casting keen
rays of ardent charity on those who would injure thee, thou
heapest coals of fire on their heads. In the might of self-know-
ledge thou art begirt with the virtues as with the stars of heaven ;
and after the night of self-knowledge comes the day of great light,
and the sun's high fervour, clothing thee in beautiful robes. Who
then will not love this beautiful patience that endures all things
for Christ Crucified?*

Where shall we find this valiant virtue of patience ? We shall
find it, says St. Catherine, where we find charity, and find it in
the same way. We shall find it in the Blood of Christ Crucified,
where amidst the torments of the Cross no murmur is heard but
that of prayer and pardon. There shall we find the patience that
bears all our iniquities and infirmities, and that gives the grace of
patience to all who live in that Blood. We shall find it in the
Blood that is embraced and possessed by the Eternal Divinity, to
whom adhering the soul is filled with the holy fire of charity, and
with the patience by which that Blood was shed. We shall find
that patience in the unspeakable love with which God has loved
us, and with which He has endured us.f

* Eadem, Lettere 96.

t Letiere 218 and 342.

LECTURE XII.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

" That you may walk worthy of God, m all things pleasing. ....
Strengthened with all might according to the power of His glory, in all patience
and long-suffering with joy.'*--COLOSSiANS i. lo, 1 1.

nr^HERE can be no better proof of a healthy soul than habitual

X cheerfulness. Christian cheerfulness is that modest, hope-
ful, and peaceful joy which springs from charity and is protected by
patience. It is as far removed from the bacchic outbursts of
sensual mirth and the egotistical thrills of self-applauding laughter,
as from melancholy gloom or self-absorbing sadness ; of all which
disorderly excesses true cheerfulness is the gentle but most decided
adversary. It is the well regulated vigour of spiritual life that
throws off all morbid humours and depressing influences, refusing
them a lodgment in the soul devoted to God. Cheerfulness gives
freedom to our thoughts, and a generous spirit to our actions. It
makes our services tOxGod acceptable, and our services to our
neighbour grateful. It is revealed in Holy Scripture that " God
loveth the cheerful giver".* And, as Ecclesiasticus says: "He
that adoreth God with joy shall be acceptable ".f As this spirit
of cheerfulness is born of charity and patience, it is charity that
expands the soul with grateful affection, and infuses sweetness;
and patience that keeps the soul in peace, and protects the spring
of cheerfulness from being troubled or diminished.

It is observed by St. Thomas that ** although spiritual joy is not
of itself a virtue, it is the fruit produced by the virtues, and is
chiefly the fruit of charity, flowing from the love of God ".J But
whilst the great theologian assigns the chief cause of spiritual joy

• 2 Corinthians ix. 7. + Ecclus. xxxv. 20.

X S. Thomas, Contra Gentiles^ L. i. c. 90.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 233

to charity, he gives the due share of that joy to patience. " We
must distinguish," he says, " between the virtue and the fruit of
patience. As a habit of the soul patience is a virtue ; but the
pleasure which flows from the exercise of patience is its fruit, and
especially in this respect, that it preserves the soul from sadness."*
Hence St. Paul places patience among the fruits of the Holy
Ghost.

This cheerfulness of soql springs from the divine good which
God has placed within us, which acts within us, of which we are
partakers, and with which our affections are united. Hence purity
of conscience is a great promoter of cheerfulness, for when the
conscience is clean the affections are pure. But the moving cause
of cheerfulness is in the exercise of the virtues, especially as they
are the ready servants of the joy of loving God. Yet even the
joy of charity is very imperfect, and is often troubled, unless that
charity be patient. For it is by the more difficult virtue of
patience that we conquer within us what is adverse to cheerfulness,
suppress our selfish passions, and obtain freedom for charity to
expand untroubled, that it may enlarge and fill our souls. No
one can have perfect cheerfulness without perfect charity, or
perfect charity without perfect patience.

Who has ever made an effort of will to be patient under trial or
temptation, who did not find peace and joy in the conquest?
Who has ever upheld his will with patient resolution above the
under current of invading sadness, who has not found cheerfulness
as the reward of his resolute action ? Let the ignorant speak as
their sensuality prompts them ; we know that those who are the
most mortified and patient for the love of God are always the most
cheerful and happy. Their spirit is free, their inward sense is
drawn to spiritual good, they are not encumbered with moodiness,
their souls delight in God.

If we had no greater joys than the world can give the body, or
the body give the soul, we should be poor creatures indeed. We
should be nothing but animals, oppressed with the gross shadows
of sensual enjoyment, which like our bodies are predestined to
sufferings and death. *' Let us eat and drink to-day for to-morrow
we die." This is the philosophy of the sensualist, most abhorrent
to the soul. If we had no greater joys than society can give us,

* Til. Sum. 2. 2. q. 136. a. 1-3.

Digitized by

234 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE,

with its vain rivalries and fictitious sentimentalities, we should
still be poor creatures. Our minds and hearts would not have
much more to feed on than the uncertain vanities of this uncer-
tain life. This is the philosophy of the sentimentalist, whose
conversation and literature is but too often imbued with subtle
poison. The great joys of the soul are secret, known to heaven^
unknown to the world. What is ambition but a scrambling to
rise one over another, to the humiliation of our neighbours, the
confusion of order, and the destruction of peace and content?
This is the philosophy of pride.

If we had no greater enjoyment than the material scientists can
give us, we should be unhappy creatures. Poring into matter
until they lose sight of their immortal souls, they materialize their
souls, and wish to materialize us. Losing the power of ascending
from the creature to the Creator, by an immense abuse of their
intelligence they drown their souls in their senses, cast a shadow
of gloom and sadness over the world, and do their best to make it
a dreary habitation for immortal souls. They leave the spiritual
nature of man without object, without purpose, without develop-
ment, without meaning, without anything immortal with which to
satisfy her immortal yearnings. But God is infinitely patient.
Religion is the first, the grandest, the most ennobling of all
sciences, for it brings us to the Fountain of intelligence and
wisdom. As all other sciences deal with the works of God, in
their right place they are the servants of religion. Without His
light who made and governs them, how can we understand the
works of God ? But with His light they minister to our cheer-
fulness, because they speak of Him and lead to Him.

The Christian soul lives in communion with God, and to that
soul a prospect is opened into infinite and unchangeable truth.
Within that soul a sense is opened that tastes the infinite and eternal
good. What opens this eye in the soul ? The light of faith descend-
ing from God. What awakes this sense in the soul ? The grace of
charity from the Holy Spirit of God. Can anything be so cheer-
ing to the soul as her growth in truth except her growth in good ?
As truth and good come to our soul from God, can anything
secure their increase like prayer and communion with God ? By
this holy converse hope is ever growing of greater things to come.
Unlike our converse with the world, it is inexhaustible in expecta-
tion of eternal good.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 235

Add patience to these divine gifts, and the restless soul,
brought to order and tranquillity, is enabled to profit by these
divine visitations to the full of her capacity. If nature becomes
fatigued by its exaltation above its powers, patience steps in to
sustain the weary spirit, and keep her tranquil and resigned in
hope. We may be left in a certain obscuration at times ; but we
know that the light is near us. We may suffer interior hunger and
privation for our trial ; but we know that God is secretly with us.
We may feel the weight of trial as a burden ; but patience will
make that burden light, and the love that bears it will cheer the
soul; because it is the joy of sacrifice filled with the hope of
eternal good to come.

The children of the world, who live for themselves, know nothing
of the enjoyments of the children of grace, who live for God.
Bent upon the things beneath them, their enjoyments come from
nothing that is equal to their spiritual nature, and certainly from
nothing that is superior to that nature ; and what they do enjoy
contains the seeds of sadness and decay. Loving but mortal things
with an immortal soul, they pervert the order of their nature
until their desires contradict their wants. The flowers of their
gladness fade and die, and the fruits of sadness come in their
place.

They thus detach themselves from the order of the universe,
separate themselves from the Eternal Fountain of light, life, and
joy, and are reduced to isolation from the God who gives peace
and happiness, and from the society of the blessed who are happy
in God. How can they understand those joys of the spirit that
spring up to eternal life? They are estranged from them by
their state of isolation. But the spirit of charity carries cheerful-
ness into every part of life ; its innocent pleasures and relaxations
have the same basis of the love of God as its graver duties ; so
that whilst what is transient in them quickly passes, what is divine
in the motive lasts for ever.

The joys of the spirit are like the spirit ; they have no visible
shape by which they can be seen, no sensible form by which they
can be touched ; they are joys of the spirit that flow from God's
gifts and the souFs virtues; they are guarded by patience,
possessed in God, and give a sweet and attractive sense of God.
Spiritual cheerfulness can only belong habitually to the superior
soul of those who by loving patience have made the conquest of

236 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE,

their inferior nature, that its inordinate movements may not mix
with the acts of the superior soul to sadden or disturb them. What
is beneath the superior soul, be it the body, the senses, the animal
life, or that inferior region of the soul which is in contact with
the body, all this may be exposed to pains, to afflictions, or to
any kind of suffering ; but so long as the superior soul is united
with God, and responds to the ruling of His grace with patient
love, those sufferings in the region beneath are kept in their
place. They are looked down upon by the superior soul for what
they are, and for no more than what they are ; they are not
allowed to invade the superior soul, to disturb her peace, to make
her anxious, fretful, or distracted, or to lessen the cheerfulness of
her self-possession and resignation.

No one without experience can have an idea how much of this
detachment of our superior from our inferior nature can be effected
by the patient love of God, or what power this gives the spirit to
command the imagination and the senses, enabling the spirit to
rise superior to suffering and sadness. Then that patient love
brings those sufferings with a cheerful spirit to Christ Jesus on the
Cross, where, blended with His sufferings, they open to her the
mysteries of eternal life, there seen with wonderful clearness, and
grace and comfort flow to the sufferer from that life-giving fountain.
Hence St. Paul has taught us in many places that hope springs
from suffering with Christ, and brings joy and consolation to the
soul. " Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, instant in prayer." *

This interior habit of tranquillity alike in prosperity and adversity
shines from the interior into the countenance of the man of
patient charity with a bland irradiation. A beautiful expression
sits like a seal of the Holy Ghost upon the features of the Saints,
and has often been recorded by those who knew them. To give
but one example out of thousands, St. Athanasius, who was
intimately acquainted with St. Antony the hermit, and knew his
austere life and the great patience of his combats with his spiritual
enemies, tells us in his Life of the Saint, that " if any stranger
came to see Antony, although personally unknown to him, if he
saw him first from a distance, and among a crowd of the brethren,
he recognised the Saint the moment he cast eyes on him, and
would hasten past the others to reach him. For his purity of soul

* Romans xii. 12.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 237

shone through his features, and the grace of his holy mind was
reflected on his earthly frame; whilst the cheerfulness of his
countenance never failed to show that he was inwardly engaged
upon divine things."

Ruffinus also informs us, that whenever St. Antony had to try
the spiritual condition of other souls, he invariably applied the
test of patience. Hearing that the brethren were extolling one
man to the skies for his wonderful virtues, St. Antony sent for
him and put his patience to the trial, and finding him fail in that
virtue he made but small account of the rest, and said to him :
" Brother, you are like a fine house with a very ornamental front
door, whilst you leave the back door open to thieves '\ If he saw
signs of sadness in any one he asked the reason of it, and would
say : No one ought ever to be sad in whom is the salvation of
God, and the hope of the kingdom of Heaven. Pagans may be
sad, they have reason to be so, and so have unrepenting sinners ;
but let the just rejoice in God." This also was one of his sayings :
" There is but one way of conquering the enemy, and that is by
keeping the spiiit cheerful and the mind fixed on God '\

When our hearts are free from envy, that deadly bane of charity
that shows itself in disparaging speech, we find joy in the good
which others possess, and this makes us partakers of their good.
But we delight in the good which is united with ourselves. Delight,
therefore, in its spiritual sense, is the pleasure we receive from
good obtained ; but joy is the pleasure we receive from the good
we perceive in others, or that we expect to receive ourselves. For
the' communion of charity has a breadth without limits, in which
we rejoice or are delighted with all the good we see in God, and
in all that He gives to ourselves or to our fellow-creatures, conscious
that by love we are in communion with all that good. This joy
also moves us to desire that this good may be more and more
increased and diffused to the honour of God and the blessing of
His creatures. But the spiritual gifts that bind us to God are more
in God than they are in us, and God is the cause of all spiritual
joy ; wherefore St. Paul exhorts us : ^* Rejoice in the Lord always;
again, I say, rejoice".*

But delight is the enjoyment of good in our actual possession,
which tranquillizes and satisfies our appetite for good, and makes

* Philippians iv. 4.

Digitized by

238 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

it peaceful, pleasant, and contented. It enlarges the soul into
greater life. Remembering that meekness is the fruit of patience,
we shall better understand the words of the Psalmist : "The meek
shall inherit the land, and shall delight in abundance of peace".*
And he says again : " My soul shall rejoice in the Lord, and shall
be delighted in His salvation And he shows the reward of this
delighting in God : " Delight in the Lord, and He will give thee
the requests of thy heart ". % Our Heavenly Father loves to see
His children free in His love without servile fears. He loves to
see them trusting in Him and rejoicing in Him. He loves to see
them living in the consciousness of His goodness. To delight in
God is to honour, praise, and glorify Him. To delight in God is
the effectual way of opening the soul to His divine influences.
This delight is a bright shadow of the good things to come.

But to have this calm and cheering sense the heart must
habitually look to God, live in the sense of God, and often converse
with Him. I say converse with God, because the sense of the
soul receives the answers to our prayers. There are two states of
the soul that desires God which are immeasurably different. There
is a state in which the inward sense of the soul is set on God, with
humble, reverent, and devout attention, and in which the soul
lives more in God than in herself. And there is a state in which
the soul lives more in herself than in God, conscious of God but
much more conscious of herself; in which state self-love plays a
great part. The soul finds herself in a net of the earthly senses,
filled with self-consciousness, shadowed with gloom, or restless
with levity. Thus imprisoned, the soul will imagine that she cannot
rise above her nature to seek the cheering light of God. Nay,
this self-love in the inferior soul will play shameful tricks with the
superior soul, will suggest the shame of her faults, or the plea of
her unworthiness, and thus dishearten her from making efforts to
rise out of her entanglements. Or the busy sense and conscious-
ness of self, infected with levity or imbued with sadness, according
to the tone and temper of the time, will grasp the heart as with
ligaments of fear or with bonds of dulness, and make the will
reluctant to snap the strings of self-love, that the mind may rise to
God. Then prayers are muttered distractedly or murmured
painfully within the soul. There is no clear outlook above one's

* Psalm xxxvi. 11. + Psalm xxxiv. 9. % Psalm xxxvi. 4.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 239

self, no lifting of the mind, no going forth of the heart to God, no
resting of the affections on God. Hence cheerlessness, impatience,
and a tendency to sadness.

But to lend the will to those tricks of self-love that incline the
soul to unreasonable fears and sadness, is unworthy of a child of
God, who ought to cherish unbounded confidence in a Father of
such unbounded goodness, and ought to foster that unbounded con-
fidence which inspires generosity. For what has self-love ever done
for us that is not to our shame and discouragement ? And what
has the confiding love of God ever done for us that is not to our
joy and content? True faith knows the unbounded goodness
and mercy of God, and how ready He is at all times to accept our
good will. True humility knows what infirm creatures we are,
and how our Heavenly Father is disposed to help us in our infir-
mities, whatever they may be, provided we have recourse to
Him. True patience withstands all the fears and misgivings of
self-love that interfere with hope, and adheres with unbounded
trust to the Divine Helper of our infirmities. The true love
of God, however humbled, is never ashamed to bring every
weakness and failing before our Heavenly Father ; gladly know-
ing that He expects this of us, and that to open the soul to Him
is to secure pardon, light, and peace. **Wait on God with
patience : join thyself to God and endure, that thy life may be
increased."

Only those souls that are disciplined in the patience of charity
can be truly cheerful under grave trials. For this depends upon
the magnanimity with which the spirit upholds herself above the
pressure and pain of her inferior nature, and this can only be done
by the brave and patient love of the spirit which looks to God,
and by virtue of the trust which that love inspires, that if we
are resigned to the trial, God will show us a way out of it, and will
deliver us from it in His own good time. Cheerfulness implies
hope, courage, confidence in God, the turning a deaf ear to the
complaints of self-love, and a certain modest joy in the conscious-
ness that in the hands of God, " in whom we live, and move, and
have our being," we are safe. But when we are beset by serious
trials, a certain effort of patience is required to keep the spirit upper-
most, and to keep the door closed through which sadness would
invade the soul. Yet is it surprising to any one who tries with
what a small amount of effort on the part of the will this cheerful-

240 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

ness, when lost, may be recovered, and how much evil and dis-
comfort this cheerful spirit will prevent.

No one should allow his peace to be disturbed by what is not a
rebuke of conscience. There are a number of pious people who
greatly injure their freedom as well as their cheerfulness by attaching
unquiet feelings to their conscience without cause, and make
themselves miseries out of their own fancies. Brooding over
their dull or unpleasant sensations, or over little things said about
them, they indulge in the art of self-torment, and make such a set
of discomforts for themselves, that nothing works at ease in them,
and they can neither rejoice in God nor be cheerful in themselves.
Yet these discomforts may be nothing more than humours in the
body, or little irritations in the nerves that are not worth attention,
or depression caused by change in the atmosphere, or some
obstruction or other in the corporal system, or something of
sadness allowed to be engendered from annoyance of no moment.
Yet these good people will mistake these petty disturbances or
depressions of their sensibilities for something wrong in the
conscience, they know not what, which engages them with them-
selves, alarms them with apprehensions, and fills them with uneasi-
ness. But these and similar things have no relation whatever in
their origin with the will or the conscience, and only become a
mischief by being made the subject of a great deal of self-conscious-
ness and self-love, wearing and wasting the spirits in discomfort,
sadness and discouragement. This is not the way of patience but
of impatience, not the way of peace but of trouble, not the way of
the cheerful giver but of the selfish self-disturber. The generous
soul sets her heart on God, not on herself ; thinks of God, and not
of her own mechanical discomforts.

If any one should take this brooding over himself for self-
knowledge, he would be very much mistaken. He is simply
making discouragements for himself by looking for them, and so
conjuring them up. Self-knowledge is not to be found in our own
darkness but in God's light. There is an immense deal of selfish
ness in this dull and dreary self-introspection, excepting when we
examine ourselves before God, and in His light

Peace of conscience should not be disturbed by venial weak-
nesses; they cause no surprise in humble souls that have a
sincere disposition to reform them. Nor should venial faults of
the will be allowed to disturb its patience, and so open the door

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE, 241

to sadness, causing irritating frets instead of peaceful regrets.
For, as St. Bonaventure observes, if we keep our patience it will
remove our sins of weakness ; and the Council of Trent teaches
that there is no obligation of confessing these venial sins, because
every good act is removing them. It is commended, but not
required. A good act of the love of God or for the love of God
will do more to remove them than the fretting and disconsola-
tion and shame at failure which have less of contrition than self-
love in them, and are therefore more offensive than the mere
faults of surprise, weakness, or inadvertence from which this
interior disturbance has been allowed to rise. Beware of that
shame, humiliation, and self-disturbance which is neither humility^
patience, nor contrition. It is good to have sincere contrition
for even the least of our faults, and to submit them to the
tribunal of penance ; but they ought not to injure our cheerful-
ness, because that is to injure our childlike confidence in God.
Without failures of which we are conscious, and that help to keep us
humble, we should have deeper sins of pride of which we should
be less conscious.

Trials of darkness and dryness are not to be assumed for proofs
of the presence of sin, but as demands on patience and resigna-
tion. If on examination the conscience is silent, they have no
other object than to strengthen us in the more solid virtues, such
as faith, trust, patience, humility, detachment, and resignation.
The peace of a good conscience inspires cheerfulness under all
trials, because God in His goodness has enabled us to keep the
great points of His law. In the words of St Paul : " We glory
in this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity of heart
and sincerity of God, and not in carnal wisdom, but in the grace
of God, we have conversed in this world

There is another error of judgment, seldom noticed^ but a not
unfrequent cause of interior discouragement. A soul that has had
a long and trying conflict with interior darkness, temptation, or
trial will suffer fatigue and weariness, and may even mistake the
consequent depression for a wound in the conscience. The will
may have been firm and patient, but the fatigue will be all the
greater from the strain. Let not that soul mistake the depression
of fatigue either for sadness or reproach of conscience* A little

* 2 Corinthians i 12.
16

242 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

tranquil recollection, raising the spirit above the exhausted sense,
will restore her cheerfulness.

Nothing contributes more to cheerfulness than the habit of
looking at the good side of things. The good side is God's side
of them. But even on their human side, what makes them appear
worse than they are is conferred on them by the envy, jealousy,
and malice of our hearts, falsely imagining that what depresses
others exalts ourselves. This is one of the most false and miser-
able of human weaknesses. The evil it produces is incalculable ;
for what begins in the jealousy of the heart ends in the scandal of
the tongue. Inordinate self-love is never without the inclination
to exalt one's dear self at the expense of others, and to take a
secret enjoyment out of their humiliation. Hence comes the
disposition to look to the weak rather than the good side of
persons and things ; and hence the habit of rash judgment,
making things appear much worse than they are. Let patience
keep down envy and repress the fancy of our own superiority, and
we shall see a great deal more for which to praise God, that will
make us more cheerful and thankful. For all good is from God,
and is to His honour and praise. Wherever we find a single-
hearted Catholic people full of faith, their constant praising of God
for all the good they see or receive forms the most beautiful
element of their language. But the pleasure of seeing and
imagining what is wrong or imprudent in our neighbours indicates
a jealous disposition of soul that is fruitful in uncharity and evil.

Why should we not rejoice in the good things of God ? We
can rejoice in the good things of the senses, why not in the good
things of the soul ? If the day is pure and serene we enjoy its
gladness. Why should we not rejoice in the serene light of truth
that shines from Heaven upon our mind ? If the sun warms us
with His beneficent rays our whole frame is cheerful. Why should
we not be cheerful under the radiation of God's divine charity. If
we look at beautiful flowers or hear delightful music, our heart
expands with pleasure. Why should not our soul expand with
delight when God puts beautiful flowers of grace into our souls,
or gives us a sense of the eternal harmonies ? We find a joy in
the presence and cheerful greeting of our friends. Why should we
not look up to Heaven, whence so many pure and most loving
faces look upon us with divine affection, and with most tender
desires to cheer and help us ? We feel honoured and cheered

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 243

by the arrival of beautiful gifts, chiefly because they are embalmed
with the kind affections of our friends. Why should we not
delight in the beautiful gifts of God, so many, so frequent, so
various, bringing to our soul the celestial balsam of His eternal
love ? Having an Almighty and most loving Father, in whom we
live, and move, and have our being, let us rejoice in Him. Having
a most loving Saviour, very God of God, who has made Himself
our brother, and feeds us with His life, we ought surely to rejoice
in Him. Having the Holy Spirit of God with us, dwelling in us
with wonderful condescension, making us His temples, and pouring
His love into our hearts, we ought certainly to answer His love,
and rejoice in His overflowing goodness. "Rejoice in the Lord
always ; again I say, rejoice/'

Sensual joy is from a mortal cause, and we soon find out its
mortality. Spiritual joy is from a spiritual and eternal cause, and
nothing but sin or sadness can bring it to an end in us. For true
spiritual delight springs from the divine truth in the intelligence
and the divine love in the will, and is pure, simple, innocent,
peaceful, contenting to the spirit, and filled with the promise of
eternal good things. Why should we ever set a gloomy face
against a guest so beautiful and generous ? That heavenly guest
will never disturb us, will never derange the good order of our being
as sensual pleasures do ; but will give the soul in which it dwells
a sweet growth, a tranquil energy, and a loving cheerfulness pro-
portioned to the welcome that we give to a guest so divine. And,
as St. Thomas truly observes : " This spiritual cheerfulness perfects
the work of the will by giving pleasure to its operations

As every spiritual good that we receive comes from the Eternal
Fountain of happiness, when gratefully received and rightly used
it ought to promote that cheerfulness which is the beginning of
all happiness. For what the Book of Wisdom tells us of the manna
with which God fed the Israelites in the wilderness is applicable
to every divine gift. " Thou didst feed Thy people with the food
of angels, and gavest them bread from heaven prepared without
labour ; having in it all that is delightful, and the sweetness of
every taste. For Thy sustenance showed Thy sweetness, and
serving every man's will, it was turned to what every man liked." t

* S. Tkomas, Contra Gentiles^ L. i. c. 19.
t Wisdom xvi. 20-21.

244 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

But whether we shall taste the varied and abundant sweetness of
those heavenly gifts or not, depends upon what patient control
we exercise over our earthly desires and sensual appetites, which
hinder us from relishing divine and eternal things. When the
Israelites lost this control and longed for the fleshpots of Egypt,
their souls nauseated the food that God had provided for them,
and they fell into a sadness and a murmuring with which God was
greatly offended. Of what profit are the divinest gifts unless we
give our heart and will to them? How can they make us cheerful
if we prefer the sadness that sensual self-love engenders ?

Then, as we have said from St Bonaventure, the patience o
charity purifies the soul from sin, which is the chief obstacle to
cheerfulness; and here we will give the whole teaching of the
Seraphic Doctor on this important subject, and that nearly in his
own words.

First, patience purifies the soul from past sins, and by keeping
the will apart from those temptations that move us to sin, it pre-
serves us from future sins. Patience effects this by holding back
the will from entering into temptation.

Secondly, by keeping the soul in just order, regularity, and
peace, patience disposes us for the receiving of greater graces and
diviner gifts, and prepares us for the exercise of stronger virtues.

Thirdly, patience tests and proves all the virtues. For as St.
Gregory says : " The trials of a man prove what is in him Gold
is purified from dross in the fire. The grain of iron is tested by
the file. Wheat is separated from straw by the flail. What is
false or defective in the soul is cast out by patience.

Fourthly, the patient soul perfects her charity to a high degree,
and obtains greater glory in Heaven. She therefore welcomes the
sufferings that give occasion for exercising this virtue; that she
may be able to say with the Psalmist : "According to the multi-
tude of my sorrows in my heart, Thy comforts have given joy to
my soul

Fifthly, w:hen patience works by charity the soul is prudent in
the ruling of herself, strenuous in combating for her own protec-
tion, and reigns like a peaceful sovereign in her own domain, of
which she holds free and firm possession; whilst by her calm
vigour she becomes the mistress of her adversaries.

* Psalm xciii. 19.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 245

Sixthly, patience is a singular retributor of the Passion of Christ.
It repays Him in kind for what we receive from Him who bore
our sorrows. This is the special joy of the Saints. Whatever
comes to them in likeness to the sufferings of Christ, that they
welcome, that they suffer with patience, and rejoice in their suffer-
ings. They rejoice because they have opportunities of repaying
the Lord as far as they are able for the exceeding love with which
He gave His life for them. Not that He is in need of our goods,
who have none of our own to give Him \ but when He enters into
judgment with us, and we come before Him with the marks of
His sufferings upon us, then will they have great confusion who
have had no will to suffer for His sake, and they will have great glory
who have endured much with patience for the love of Him. It
would seem, then, that our Lord shows special love to those to
whom He sends many things to be endured ; He honours them
with a part of His burden, as He honoured Simon of Cyrene with
a part of His Cross.

A number of persons, each with his own burden, are travelling
the same road in company. If one of them gets exhausted with
fatigue, he yrill naturally look to some one on whose affection he
can rely to help him for a time with his burden. He will trust to
love, and not to the grudging help of those to whom he is
indifferent. So our divine Lord, walking with us all the days of
our lives, looks out for those who are ready for His love to carry a
part of the burden that He still must bear in His mystical body
the Church. He distributes that Passion, which as our Head He
endured fot us, among His faithful and compassionate members,
who, being of the body of which He is the Head, love to suffer
with Him, that with Him they may be glorified. For as the
sufferings of Christ abound in us, so also shall His glory abound.
Partaking of His death we partake also of His resurrection ; and
the more we suffer with Him, the more gloriously shall we reign
with Him. *

When the Royal Psalmist is in affliction, and his life is " wasted
with grief," he exclaims to God : O how great is the multitude of
thy sweetness, O Lord, which Thou hast hidden for them that fear
Thee ! Which Thou hast wrought for them that hope in Thee, in
the sight of the sons of men. Thou shalt hide them in the secret of

♦ S. Bonaventura, De Profectu Religiosorum, L. ii. c 36.

246 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

Thy face from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them
in Thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues." *

Among the treasures of His goodness God has provided an un-
speakable sweetness for those who fear Him with a loving fear, and
a singular protection for those who, in patient hope, refer the trials
and contradictions they endure to their Divine Protector. The
Psalmist has before him two states of soul : the state of one who
seeks God in solitude and silence, and the state of one who is ex-
posed to the combats and vexations of the active life, and the con-
tradiction of tongues. The souls that seek God in silence He
hides in His face, and gives them a divine intimacy with Him. A
great sweetness is hidden for those souls, which is sometimes given
to them and sometimes concealed from them. When this
luminous sweetness is communicated, it fills them with delight ;
when it is concealed from them, it is not lost^ but is hidden in the
secret of God's face for them, that their faith may be exercised,
their patience put to the proof, and their desire of God increased.
The law of justice is in their heart, but there is a cloud before
them; yet they know that the Sun of Justice is in the cloud. Then
sensible delight is changed into a secret sustaining strength ; and
they wait in the outer court. In the root of the soul there is hope,
desire, and a chaste fear that is not afraid of God. But where is
the source of cheerfulness ? In the faith that God is in the cloud,
and very near the souL In the confidence that the sweetness is
not lost, but only hidden in the face of God for them. In the
trust that their trial is purifying them for greater good. In the
courage that still adheres to God with patience, and waits His will
with magnanimity. Meanwhile it is ordained that the soul prove
her love by the constancy of her patience, and wait in peace until
consolation returns.

Two things try the patience of the souls set in open combat :
persecution in their persons or goods ; and provoking, offensive, or
calumnious speeches. But when they silently commit their cause
to God, and patiently leave themselves to His care, He protects
their souls from injury, and hides them in His tabernacle, or
sanctuary, words that signify their secret union with Him, in which
He shows them special favours and proofe of tenderness.

To those who are in the charity of God St Paul addresses these

* Psalm XXX. 20-21.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE, 247

magnificent words : " Know you not that your members are the
temple of the Holy Ghost, who is in you, whom you have from
God : and you are not your own. For you were bought with a
great price." * And in another place the Apostle tells us ; " Who-
soever are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For
you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear : but you
have received the adoption of sons, whereby we cry : Abba (Father).
For the Spirit giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons
of God. And if sons, heirs also ; heirs indeed of God, and joint-
heirs with Christ : yet so if we suffer with Him, that we may be
also glorified with Him." f

Here is a list of most noble prerogatives and privileges that be-
long to the lovers of God. They are delivered from servile fear,
and are free with that freedom with which God makes them free.
They have the joy of being God's children, a joy that should re-
move all sadness from their hearts. They are the living temples
of God's Holy Spirit, who bears them witness that they are the
sons of God. They are joint-heirs with Christ of the good things
of God. But one condition is attached to these exalted privileges.
" Yet so if we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with
Him." This condition is required for proof and for earnest that
we do love God with sincere affection and gratitude, and are ready
to suffer with cheerfulness for His sake, who bought us this love
with His sufferings. And as our present sufferings prepare us for
the future glory, they ought already to have in them the seeds of
that glory in the cheerfulness and joy that comes of the patient
love with which we suffer.

Why should the children of God raise the question in fear and
sadness, that they know not whether they love God or not? You
know whether you prefer God to all things else. You know
whether you desire God above all things. You know whether you
would consent to die rather than offend Him mortally. You
know whether, trusting in His grace, you are ready to suffer with
Christ. It is these dispositions of the will, and not the emotions
of sensibility, that decide the question whether you love God or
not. Why, then, should you deprive yourself of the cheering joy
of loving God ? Why should you check and restrain the expansion
of that love with saddening thoughts and servile fears? The

* I Corinthians vi. 19-20. + Romans viii. 14-17.

248 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

Apostles and Saints give us the maxim that the proof of the pre-
sence of charity is in its patience. When we are ready, and cheer-
fully ready to suffer and to endure for the love of God, we have
the full proof of the presence of that love in our soul.

Why should the Sacred Scriptures exhort us so continually to
rejoice in God, to delight in God, and to rejoice in suffering for His
sake, if we are to turn a deaf ear to them, as though they were not
the revealed will of God to our faith, as though they were not His
own divine invitations that we should love and serve Him cheer-
fully. To rejoice in God is to put His enemies to flight The
cheerful love and service of God disperse gloom, scatter morbidity
to the winds, and leave no room for self-love to indulge in sad-
ness. Nor need this cheerfulness be lowered by the advent of
tribulation, if patience be there to sustain the spirit in its right
position. " We may always rejoice," observes St. Chrysostom, " if
we will only keep our heads a little raised above the flood of
human things."

Cheerfulness is the beauty of patience, the play of freedom, the
radiation of charity, the glow of spiritual health. It is an emana-
tion from the gifts and the fruits of the Holy Ghost, and a certain
sign of the happy order of the virtues, braced into the love of God
by peace-giving patience. This cheerful spirit, this joy of devoted-
ness, completes and perfects our acts in the service of God and of
our neighbours. It crowns our good deeds, and without it they
are without their best ornament. When our good acts are accom-
panied with reluctance or constraint, they lose their freedom,
power, and influence, because they are mingled with pain and
sadness.

It is said in the Ethics, which give us the voice of nature, that
** the generous man, who expends his gifts joyfully, does a noble
action : whereas he who gives reluctantly and with regret does an
unworthy deed". Holy Scripture proclaims that to serve God
with joy and gladness makes our service acceptable. It was said
to the Israelities : " Because thou didst not serve the Lord thy
God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of all
things: thou shalt serve thy enemy, whom the Lord will send
upon thee, in hunger, and thirst, and nakedness, and in the want
of all things".* This was their punishment for not serving God

* Deuteronomy xxviiL 47-48.

Digitized by

^ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 249

gratefully but grudgingly. The sacred psalmist exhorts us:
"Serve ye the Lord with gladness".* And he gives it as the
blessing of the hopeful : Let all them be glad who hope in
Thee: they shall rejoice for ever, and Thou shalt dwell in them^.f

If the Old Testament abounds in exhortations to serve God
with cheerfulness and with joy, the New Testament is even yet
niore instant in exhorting us to be cheerful and thankful under
sufferings and trials. Who ever suffered more than St. Paul?
Yet he tells the Corinthians : "I exceedingly abound in joy in all our
tribulations ".J In which of his epistles does he not proclaim his
joy amidst his sufferings, profoundly conscious that they bound
him to the cross of Christ and the love of God ? St Peter gives
a sublime reason for this joy in suffering : If you partake of the
sufferings of Christ, rejoice, that when His glory shall be revealed
you also may be glad with exceeding joy*'.§ But the most touch-
ing instruction is that of our Blessed Lord after His Last Supper.
He tells His disciples that He is going to leave them; He describes
all the sufferings that will come upon them after His departure.
He then says to them : " Peace I leave with you. My peace I give
unto you ; not as the world giveth do I give unto you. Let not
your heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid.'* And after exhorting
them to abide in Him, and in His love. He says to them :
" These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you,
and your joy may be filled *\||

How joy meets suffering on the ground of patience St. Augus-
tine will explain. Expounding the text of the psalm : " My bone
is not hidden from Thee, which Thou hast made in secret," he
asks : " What is this bone that is known to God, but hidden from
man ? It is a certain interior firmness and fortitude that is not,
easily broken down. Whatever troubles, whatever trials or adver-
sities come upon us, God has made a firmness within us that
neither yields nor breaks under them. This firmness is a certain
patience that God forms within us, and of which the Psalmist
says : ' Shall not my soul be subject to God ? For from Him is
my patience.' The Apostle had this firmness, 'Sorrowful as it
were yet always rejoicing '. The persecutors strove their best to
make the martyrs miserable, and judging them by their own weak-

* Psalm xcix. 2. \ Psalm v. 12. %2 Corinthians viL 4.

§ I Peter iv. 13.

II S. John XV. II.

250 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

ness they thought them miserable. To the eyes of men they seemed
in a miserable plight; but within themselves they rejoiced in God, to
whom the bone was not hidden that He had made for them."*

The man bom blind has no sense of colours. The man bom
deaf has no knowledge of the sound of the human voice. The
fishes that live in the waters have no experience of fire. The body
has eyes, but they cannot see the soul. Man without the grace
and virtue of patient charity can form no tme conception how
peace and joy can coexist with great pain and suffering. It is not
sensually but spiritually examined ; but in the case supposed this
union of joy with suffering is not in the soul to be examined, nor
is the spiritual power there by which it can be examined. The
gifts of the Holy Ghost give the joy and the power to feel the joy.
Where God acts, and the soul acts with God, human weak-
ness is not the point for consideration, but divine strength ; and
the grace of patient charity is stronger than all suffering. Hence
a St. Felicitas could cheerfully encourage her seven sons to look
up to heaven where Jesus Christ expected them ; to be faithful in
their love and suffer bravely for their souls. With joy she saw
them expire in torments one after another, and then followed
them on their ensanguined path to heaven. A St. Agnes, so
young and tender, surveyed the crael fire and the instmments of
torture with a cheerful countenance, expressed her joy at the
spectacle, and still more at the sight of her barbarous executioner ;
and *• went more cheerfully to her sufferings than other maidens
to their bridals A St. Lawrence could playfully jest with his
executioners in the midst of his cruel torments. A Sir Thomas
More could calmly use his gentle wit at the moment of laying his
head upon the block. When St. Tiburtius was sentenced to bitter
tortures before the death stroke, he said to the judge : " To the
Christian whose conscience is pure all your torments are but
trifles". The Acts of the Holy Martyrs and Confessors abound in
evidence of the consolations that carried them through their
sufferings. In return for their patient love God gave them the
hidden bone of fortitude, and the refreshment of His Holy Spirit ;
and they experienced the tmth of the eternal promise : He shall
cry to me, and I will hear him : I am with him in tribulation, I
will deliver him, and glorify him ".f

* S. Augustin. in Psalm cxxxviii. 15. f Psalm xc. 15.

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE, 251

But after all our greatest trials are interior. Those that come
from without are open, palpable, and definable in their causes ; but
those within are often obscure and mysterious. They go to the
very core of our affections, and to the inexperienced they cause
anxiety and solicitude, owing to the privation of light and of
sensible joy. Yet are they the most important part of the disci-
pline of the soul. They correct negligence, punish conceit and
pride, and are very often trials of fidelity. They are at all times
great mstructions in self-knowledge, humility, and patience. Under
this kind of trial the wants of the soul are keenly felt ; our nothing-
ness before God is keenly impressed upon us ; our dependence on
God is struck deeply into the conscience ; and the craving of the
heart for God is so much awakened, that, where patience is truly
present, self-love, which is the greatest enemy to spiritual cheerful-
ness and joy, is in great measure purified from the soul.

What shall we say to those who are in the first experiences of
this kind of trial ? Let them first understand that such trials are
not exceptional, but common to souls called to greater perfection
of life. First comes the season of flowering, then the season of the
hard and unripe fruit, and afterwards the mellowing of the fruit
into sweetness. We first enjoy the beauty and perfume of the
blossoms ; but they must decay before the fruit can come. The
time of flowering is the novitiate of the soul. Then comes the
hard, acid, and unripe fruit. This is the time of patience and
hope, of strengthening and maturing. But during all this time of
patient endurance the hard, dry, and acid fruit is being strengthened
in its virtues, increased and ripened by the sun into sweetness and
perfection, and then we enjoy its matured beauty and nourishing
sweetness with delight.

It is unreasonable to expect the ripe fruit in the time of flower-
ing, or in the time of maturing. Yet we may be cheered with their
beauty and their promise, and with the hope of greater enjoyment
in the future. There is no present good of the spiritual kind with-
out the promise of greater good, and even of eternal good. The
trial is the pruning of the tree of its harmful superfluities, giving
it strength and vigour to be fruitful. Know that you must pass
from the flower to the green fruit of piety, and that the fruit
must be hardened before it is ripened. Do not frighten your
imagination as if yours were an exceptional and singular case.
Your books of instruction will tell you differently. Look not to

252 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

your sensibilities as if true piety consisted in them, but look well
to your will and desires. In the winter season of your soul fret
not for the summer's sunshine; you are soft, and must be hardened.
It is the season of patience, of resignation, of waiting, of enduring.
Why should not your winter be cheerfully undergone ? There is
nothing to prevent it, if by patient love you keep sadness away.

The great enemy of the soul is not trial but sadness, which is
the bleeding wound of self-love. It takes many shapes, and many
shades of colour, all of the darker hues, and is often subtle and
unperceived in its depressing influence. It is fertile of evils, chokes
a great deal of good, resists the operations of divine grace, and is
the great adversary of cheerfulness. It contracts the heart, darkens
the mind, and insinuates the morbid elements of self-love like a
virulent poison into the souL Shall we call it blood-poisoning or
soul-poisoning? It is both. It is noxious to the whole spirit of
life, natural, as well as supernatural. There are but two remedies
for this malignant evil. The preventive remedy is in that patience
of will that resists its entrance into the soul from the outset, and
by adhering to God keeps the spirit from descending into the
entanglements of self-love. But when sadness has arisen, has got
some hold of the will, and already caused some moodiness and
trouble, the remedy will be in an effort to break through the slimy
net in which the spirit has become entangled.

As the effect of sadness is to close us up within ourselves, the short
way of deliverance is to break away from one's self, and this by
some act of kindness and attention to others. This will be a
reluctant effort at first, but with a little effort to overcome reluct-
ance, self-conquest and freedom will be quickly gained; and it
will be discovered with surprise that there was nothing in this con-
temptible moodiness but pride. For self-love was entertaining a
resolve to be unhappy, and will feel the humiliation of giving up
the dark conceit, which was nothing but the dregs of self, nothing
but the bitter consciousness of nature warped to suUenness ; whilst
the effort to be cheerful and kind is in fact the separation of the
will from self-love, to which it clings like a limpet, to a rock, not
tecause it is happiness, but because it is self. Yet no humiliation
imposed by another could be more severely felt than this tearing
away the will from one's morbid self. It is like giving up a fortress.

It looks like something too strong to conquer, yet nothing can
be weaker. All that is required to break the fascinating spell is

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 253

some little effort of the will, and it is amazing how small is the
effort required A few kind words, a kind act, even a kind look,
though reluctant at first, will set the will free, and dissolve the
gloomy phantoms that have held the soul in bondage. Then will
patient charity recover her ascendency, and will open first the green
bud and then the bright flower of cheerfulness, giving graciousness
and beauty to the virtues.

Let us conclude these instructions. The heart is the centre of
our corporal life, from which every member of the body receives
its renovation. The calm, regular, and musical time of its pulsa-
tions gives us the best assurance we can have that our material
frame is in a healthy condition. In virtue of those steadfast and
constant pulsations every part of the body receives fresh elements
of life, and rejects what is noxious or destructive of life. The will,
in like manner, is the centre of our spiritual nature, the spring and
fountain of its action. Hence the Scriptures place the heart for
the will, which is truly the vital principle of the soul, — the prin-
ciple of action, love, and endurance. But there is this essential
difference between the spring of our material and the spring of our
spiritual life, that the material heart acts by a fixed law that is
independent of the will ; but the spiritual heart, or font of action
is the will, which is free in its action, and formed to work with the
supernatural grace of God.

But among the divine gifts of grace there are two chief principles
of power, and when the will works faithfully with them they give
the soul that perfection of life which prepares her for her final
union with God. The one is the fervid and generous action of
charity, the other is the regulating and controlling action of
patience. This last power is essential for the protection and
defence of the first, so long as we are in this mortal state of trial
and probation. Not charity alone, nor patience alone, but the
charity which is patient prepares the soul for God. As the twofold
movement of the heart gives the action that renews life, and the
action which expels what is injurious to life ; the movement of
charity brings life, and the movement of patience repels what is
injurious to life. The charity of the will makes the whole man
charitable and holy ; the patience of the will makes the whole man
strong and peaceful.

The custody of the heart is the custody of the man, and this
custody of the heart is the work of patience. When the will is

254 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE.

patient the mind is patient, the heart is patient, the tongue is
patient, the hand is patient. When the will is patient charity is
patient, and all the virtues are patient. But this implies the
exercise of a tranquil violence over our restless and wayward
nature; of which our Lord tells us: '*The kingdom of heaven
suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away What is weak
and restless in our nature looks to patience for strength and con-
sistency, and we must reign over ourselves before we can enter our
Saviour's Kingdom.

To the angels the heavens are natural because they are pure
spirits ; but before the heavens can be natural to us a great change
must be effected in us. Yet, as St. Jerome observes : " He who is
created man desires to be an angel, the earthly man seeks a heavenly
habitation ''.t Heavenly grace must work the change, and be
woven by the will into our nature through the virtues. But this
cannot be effected without doing violence to the appetites, the
passions, and irascibilities of our nature, which patience accomplishes
through the instrumentality of the virtues, quelling the disorders
that resist the light of God and the operations of His grace, and
that oppose the free flowing of celestial charity, which prepares us
for the atmosphere of heaven and the most delightful vision of God.

As a last word of encouragement to the cultivators of patience,
it may be well to point out once more how the closing Book of
the Sacred Scriptures ascribes the whole victory of the Saints to
their patience. Here," says St. John, " is the patience of the
Saints, who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of
Jesus.^J From the Island of Patmos St. John salutes us, and
calls himself our brother, and our partner in tribulation, in the
kingdom, and the patience of Christ"; and he makes known to us
the visions he has seen and the voices he has heard, proclaiming
the rewards of them who overcome themselves, the world, and the
evil spirits by their patience. The beloved Evangelist beholds in
a sublime vision the Son of God in His glory, arrayed as the
Eternal Bishop and Pastor of His Church, and records His words
to the churches on earth.

" He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches. To him that overcometh, I will give to eat of the tree

* S. Matthew xi. 12. +S.Hieron. Epist, ad Algasiam,

X Apocalypse xiv. 12.

Digitized by

ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE. 255

of life, which is in the paradise of my God."* "He that shall
overcome shall not be hurt by the second death." f " He that
overcometh, I will give him the hidden manna, and will give him
a white counter, and in the counter a new name written, which no
man knoweth but he that receiveth it." % This white counter, or
hidden manna, is the Holy Eucharist of the glorified body and
blood of the Lord. The white counter is an allusion to the
ivory symbol bearing the name of the donor, which men of distinc-
tion gave to their friends as a claim to their hospitality. And it
here signifies a claim to the hospitality of Christ in His Eternal
Kingdom.

"That which you have hold fast till I come. And he that shall
overcome and keep My words unto the end, I will give him power
over the nations." § " He that shall overcome shall thus be clothed
in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the
book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father, and
before His angels." ||

" Because thou hast kept the word of My patience, I also will
keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon the
whole world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold I
come quickly : hold fast that which thou hast, that no man take
away thy crown. He that shall overcome, I will make him a
pillar in the temple of My God : and he shall go out no more :
and I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of
the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out
of the heaven of My God, and My new name." T

" I counsel thee to buy of Me gold fire-tried, that thou mayest
be rich ; and mayest be clothed in white garments, and that the
shame of thy nakedness may not appear: and anoint thy eyes
with eye-salve that thou mayest see. Such as I love, I rebuke and
chastise. Be thou zealous therefore and do penance. Behold I
stand at the gate, and knock. If any man shall hear My voice,
and open to Me the door, I will come to him, and will sup with
him, and he with Me. To him that shall overcome, I will give
to sit with Me on my throne : as I also have overcome, and am
set down with My Father in His throne." * *

" And He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal,

* Apocalypse ii. 7. + Ibid. ii. 1 1. % Ibid. ii. 17. § Ibid. ii. 26.
II Ibid. iii. 5. f Ibid. iii. IO-12. * * Ibid, iiu 18-20.

2S6 ON THE CHEERFULNESS OF PATIENCE,

proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. In the midst
of the street thereof, and on both sides of the river, was the tree
of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruits every month, and
the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And
there shall be no curse anymore : but the throne of God and of
the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. And
they shall see His face : and His name shall be on their foreheads.
And night shall be no more : and they shall not need the light of
the lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall
enlighten them, and they shall reign for ever and ever. And He
said to me : These words are most faithful and true." *

" Behold I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render
to every man according to his works." t

♦ Ibid. xxii. 1-6.

t Ibid. xxii. 12

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